Auston Matthews was unable to complete Game 4 of the Toronto Maple Leafs' Eastern Conference first-round series against the Boston Bruins on Saturday night — and the superstar might not be an option for a do-or-die Game 5 at TD Garden.
Matthews, who has been dealing with an illness throughout the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, was absent at Leafs practice on Monday morning. Despite that, he will travel with the team to Boston and a final decision on his availability will be made before the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed.
“We’re hopeful he’s available and feeling good and back to himself,” the bench boss said after the practice.
It's certainly a disappointing update, especially as Toronto finds itself on the wrong side of a 3-1 series deficit heading into a very difficult barn in Massachusetts. The availability of Matthews could go a long way in determining whether the Leafs are able to send the series back to Scotiabank Arena for Game 6 later this week.
Matthews was pulled by doctors following the second period of Saturday's 3-1 loss after playing 14:16 through the first two periods. The Rocket Richard Trophy winner continues to deal with a “lingering” illness throughout the playoffs.
“Not one of those run-of-the-mill, everyday type of illnesses that sort of come and go,” said Keefe on Sunday, per NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. “This one has lingered and the effects have lingered and gotten worse when he's getting on the ice and asserting himself. We've just got to manage that and give him the time that he needs. We're hopeful that it'll turn.”
Bruins have pushed Leafs to the brink
With or without Auston Matthews, something needs to change for the Leafs if they hope to beat the Bruins in a playoff series for the first time since 1959.
Even with No. 2 scorer William Nylander back in the lineup, Toronto was unable to put more than one goal past Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who has stymied them throughout the series. Swayman hasn't lost to the Leafs this year, and Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said earlier in the series that he was in the Leafs' heads.
It's either that, or the fact that Toronto has failed to scored more than two goals in 10 of their past 11 postseason games. Add that to the fact that the team has lost six consecutive home playoff games, while being outscored 21-11 in the process, and it's not hard to see why many around the hockey world are already writing this club off ahead of Game 5.
And with disagreement amongst the superstars, the task gets even more difficult.
“I look at it as something that happens when things aren’t going well,” Keefe said of the televised disagreement between Nylander and Mitch Marner in Game 4.
“In the past, quite honestly, that wouldn’t have happened. Guys wouldn’t have talked it out, wouldn’t have, if you want to call it, argued it out. I look at it as progress and that those guys care. I don’t look at it as frustration. I look at them being upset that they didn’t deliver for the team, and they’re pushing and challenging each other to get it right.”
Someone will need to deliver for Toronto in Game 5, or it's going to be another offseason full of questions in Leafland.
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