Panic creeping up in Toronto as Auston Matthews misses Leafs practice

Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke with the media following Wednesday's skills session and suggested that there were a few players nursing minor injuries after playing 3 games in 4 nights. To that end, it's very possible that Matthews is just taking some extra rest with the intention of playing tonight. However, there's also a chance that Matthews is banged up and may not play.

With Matthews away from practice today, Marner not scheduled to play in either of tonight's or Saturday night's games, Morgan Rielly dealing with a lingering issue and Joel Edmundson also out this week, the injury issues really seem to be piling up at the wrong time for the Maple Leafs.

Matthews currently sits at 59 goals on the season and if he is, in fact, injured, it may put a damper on his pursuit of 70 goals this season. Yes, 60 is almost a guarantee, and he may even reach the 65 goal mark, provided his ailment is a minor one, but it would be a pretty big disappointment if an injury was what prevented Matthews from being the first player since Teemu Selanne and Alex Mogilny in 1992-93 to score 70 in a season.

As an added piece of bad news, the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Boston Bruins last night to move to within 2 points of the Leafs in the Atlantic Division standings, and if the Leafs aren't careful, they're going to find themselves slipping into a Wild Card spot.