Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews took part in morning skate and will return to action Saturday night in a road game against the Boston Bruins.
Matthews has missed the past two games with what he described as a “nagging” injury. Toronto went 1-1 in that stretch, but the offense clearly lagged, as the Maple Leafs amassed just three goals.
During his absence, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said that Matthews’ ailment has “been bothering him for a while,” and Matthews concurred with his coach’s sentiments in his media availability Saturday morning.
“It’s just something I’ve got to stay on top of with the medical team and the staff,” he said, “and making sure I get the care and treatment that I obviously need to perform every night.”
Matthews, who skated on his own Friday, an official day off for the club, has 20 goals and 47 points this season, a year after winning the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
“Obviously, you’d always like to be better and push myself to do more,” Matthews said. “I have high expectations for myself. But at the same time, I think the way we’ve been playing as a team this year, defensively especially, I think that’s just spoken to our growth as a team and our maturity and the way we’ve been able to win games.”
The Maple Leafs enter Saturday’s game with 59 points, nine behind Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division.