With their playoff seeding secured and eyes on a deep playoff run, the Toronto Maple Leafs will rest three key contributors during their final regular-season game Friday.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe announced that Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and Jack Campbell will all sit out Friday's contest against the Boston Bruins. Keefe said a decision on whether captain John Tavares and some others play will be made on Friday.
"I get feedback from our medical team and their thoughts and our performance team, how they feel about it, but the most important thing is to have a conversation with the players, give them my perspective but get their perspective to see how they're feeling," Keefe said.
"Not so much how they're feeling about the upcoming game but how they're feeling about their game."
The decision will impact Marner more than the others, as the star winger will miss his chance to reach the 100 point mark for the first time. Marner will finish the season with 35 goals and 97 points.
"It's definitely tough," Marner said about not getting to 100 points. "But at the same time, I want to just make sure I'm ready to go, we're all ready to go, to start the playoffs."
Matthews was able to reach his big milestone on Tuesday by scoring twice to reach 60 goals on the season. He will finish with 106 points, which is the fourth-highest total ever recorded by a Maple Leafs player in a single campaign.
Campbell finishes the season with a 31-9-6 record, .914 save percentage and five shutouts.
The Maple Leafs will finish the season as the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and will play either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Boston Bruins in the first round.
