Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has been like a house on fire this December. He has scored a total of seven goals with two assists in four games, so far this month, and he’s recorded most of it without right wing Mitch Marner on his side.

Marner injured his shoulder in practice on Dec. 3 when he had a collision with teammate Jake Muzzin. The injury turned out to be serious enough for the Maple Leafs to place him on the injured reserve list. Marner is expected to miss up to four weeks, which means that Matthews will have to take on a bigger load as the primary weapon on Toronto’s top line together with Michael Bunting and Wayne Simmonds.

Matthews commented about the temporary absence of Marner and how he would adjust with a new-look top line, and practically expressed confidence he can get the job done without his usual buddy on the right side of the ice.

Via Jonas Siegel of The Athletic:

“Obviously, Mitchy, some of the things that he can do, not many players can do,” Matthews said of Marner, his most frequent setup man over the past two-plus seasons. “For myself, I just try to feed off the guys that I’m with. (Simmonds), you know he’s gonna compete every night. Same with (Bunting).

Matthews is easily one of the most dangerous offensive players in the NHL today. He has 17 goals on the season to go with 11 assists. His 28 points are tied for ninth in the league as of this writing, which also shows that he is fully recovered from an offseason wrist surgery. Marner is the ideal linemate for Matthews, but for now, the latter will have to carry on and build on his recent momentum to continue giving the Maple Leafs the boost they need to keep in step with their rivals in the Atlantic Division.