TORONTO — Saturday marks a brand-new year of hockey at Scotiabank Arena, and Auston Matthews will be at centre ice, ready to ring it in.
The captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs resumed his spot on the top line, centring Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, took power-play reps, then smiled wide as he led the team’s morning stretch ahead of Hockey Night in Canada’s prime-time showdown versus the Boston Bruins.
“It’s exciting. Obviously, never fun watching,” said Matthews, upon announcing his return from a six-game layoff. “I feel excited about being back in.”
The Maple Leafs went 3-3 in this most recent stretch without their top centre and are 10-5 in their 15 Matthews-less games this season.
“Good teams find a way to win, and obviously we’d like to be able to win in different ways. I think we’ve shown that we can do that,” said Matthews, who has been pushing through an undisclosed upper-body injury since training camp.
“Tonight’s gonna be another good test.”
If the lowly Buffalo Sabres are willing to lay the lumber on Matthews’ lumbar, surely a fierce division rival like the Bruins will be looking to play the superstar hard.
Particularly when these clubs could potentially meet in the post-season.
Matthews himself has conceded that he can’t be certain that his ailment won’t nag throughout the remainder of 2025.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Matthews said after practice on New Year’s Day. “I hope so. That’s obviously the goal.
“It’s tricky with these things sometimes. It’s a physical sport. It’s a contact sport, so things happen out there sometimes that are out of your control. Just try to manage as best I can, and we can, and go from there.”
Matthews gave the thumbs-up for Saturday (and Sunday versus Philadelphia) after linking consecutive practices where he felt a decrease in pain and an increase in mobility.
That said, with Matthews already suffering one significant setback, coach Craig Berube will be mindful of how he deploys the player.
“Definitely,” Berube said. “That’s tough. Because that type of guy, you want to be on the ice as much as you can. But at the same time, my job is to manage that, and we’ll get communication with him — how he’s feeling and what's going on. So, we’ll kind of try to limit (injury aggravation) as best we can.”
Even operating at something noticeably less than 100 per cent health, Matthews has scored 11 goals and added 12 assists in his 24 appearances this season.
“A lot of compete and a lot of offence,” Bobby McMann said. “Guys have stepped up. Guys have taken a little bit different roles. We obviously miss him every game, but it’s been some opportunity for guys to find a little bit more minutes.”
Matthews’ return bodes well for William Nylander, who will skate alongside point-per-game John Tavares instead of a top-six placeholder like Pontus Holmberg or David Kämpf.
Berube doesn’t want to mess with the chemistry of his third line; McMann, Max Domi, and Nick Robertson have been clicking well lately.
“Having (Matthews) in the lineup gives you a lot more options,” Berbube said.
“He just drives the pace of play, you know. Like, he’s just an extremely hard worker, plays 200 feet. The pace goes up.”
One-Timers: Conor Timmins, Ryan Reaves, and Holmberg will be healthy scratched. ... Following two excellent wins against the New York Islanders, Joseph Woll starts his third consecutive game. ... Jani Hakanpää (knee) was a full participant at morning skate but is still not cleared to play.
Maple Leafs lineup Saturday vs. Boston Bruins:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Pacioretty – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Domi – Robertson
Lorentz – Kämpf – Dewar
Rielly – Myers
McCabe – Tanev
Benoit – Ekman-Larsson
Woll starts
Hildeby
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