An Auston Matthews update from head coach Sheldon Keefe
There was certainly some panic in the air in Leafs Nation on Sunday after it was announced that the NHL's leading goal scorer, Auston Matthews, was coming out of the lineup due to an injury that he had sustained during Saturday night's win in Ottawa.
Despite the fact that Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had called the injury "minor" and stated that Matthews' status was nothing more than a day-to-day thing, there was a lot of speculation over whether Matthews had re-injured his surgically repaired wrist. Keefe wanted to put any rumours to bed following Sunday's record-setting win against the Islanders.
-Keefe on Matthews
As we have seen on a number of occasions, most recently with Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry, if an injury is significant, teams are reporting it as such. The fact that Keefe himself has absolutely no concern over the health status of Matthews down the stretch and heading into the playoffs is very telling. The reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner is going to be fine.
The Leafs have 6 games remaining, and with a much needed day off for the team on Monday night, perhaps we'll see Matthews back in the lineup on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers or Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It is worth noting that Matthews' closest competitor for the Rocket Richard Trophy race this season is Leon Draisaitl, who is currently sitting 4 goals back of Auston Matthews with 54 goals. Matthews has 28 tallies this year and will hopefully make it into a few more games this season to give him a chance to reach the 60-goal plateau.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 18 | 474 ANSWERS An Auston Matthews update from head coach Sheldon Keefe Who will lead the Leafs in playoff scoring this year? | ||
| Auston Matthews | 246 | 51.9 % |
| Mitch Marner | 120 | 25.3 % |
| John Tavares | 57 | 12 % |
| William Nylander | 51 | 10.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
