The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost their last three games, and they're looking for some momentum to get back to playing some good hockey. In their last game against the Boston Bruins, they lost Auston Matthews after he suffered a lower-body injury. There was uncertainty on how serious the injury was, but some good news recently came out about the forward, according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.
“Auston Matthews injury considered not serious, but will miss a couple of games,” Friedman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Matthews took a hit into the sidelines from behind by Nikita Zadorov midway through the second period, and he was not penalized for the hit.
Zadarov shared after the game that he didn't think that the hit on Matthews was a dirty play.
“It was just a normal play. I didn't really hit him,” Zadorov said. “I hit my right shoulder, 99% of my hits in the NHL are with my right shoulder… I'm not sure what hit he got hurt (on). Is it like when he went after me again and I counter-hit him? Or maybe when I cleared the puck, I hit him with a puck. There was really no intention to hurt him. I play hard against top players on the other team, that's my job.”
The Maple Leafs need Matthews on the ice if they want to be successful, especially since he can score at a high rate. So far this season, he hadn't been able to get into much of a rhythm because of the lineup changes. Regardless, Matthews is still a key part of the Maple Leafs' offense, and he's good for getting the team easy points.
The hope is that he can come back sooner rather than later, and the Maple Leafs can weather the storm for however long he's sidelined.
