Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies are back for Maple Leafs, but Bobby McMann stays in sick bay
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Auston Matthews won’t need a name tag when he shows up in the dressing room Saturday.
Just hand him a stick.
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Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies are back for Maple Leafs, but Bobby McMann stays in sick bay Back to video
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“I didn’t forget how to play hockey the past three weeks,” Matthews assured news hounds in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday, announcing himself fit to face the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It definitely kills me not to be out there, but the guys have been playing well and it’s a sign of great things to come.”
For eight games, up to Wednesday night’s one-sided defeat to the Panthers, the Leafs rode out Matthews’s month-long absence quite well, losing just one. But coupled with a plague of injuries and one suspension, there were eight forwards out of the lineup after the last game when Bobby McMann joined the sick list. Matthews, along with the returning Matthew Knies, will be more than welcomed.
Even while the Leafs were racking up victories without him, the club’s 5-on-5 scoring was suffering. With him back, the offence can balance the defence and goaltending that had temporarily put Toronto in first place in the Atlantic Division.
But another romp by Florida over Carolina on Friday and Tampa’s overtime win in Nashville, put the Cats back on top and the Lightning just two points behind Toronto. Time for the league’s defending Rocket Richard Trophy winner to step back in.
“We want to get back on track and end the road trip right,” Matthews said.
He last played Nov. 3, taking himself out with what was described as an upper body training camp injury that wasn’t getting better. Believing he’d come back too quickly from similar occurrences in his career, Matthews decided a lull in the schedule the past two weeks was an ideal time to have a specialist in Munich, Germany, check out what many speculate is a back issue.
The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons reported this week that the doctor was Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt, whose celebrity patient list includes sprinter Usain Bolt, tennis ace Boris Becker and boxer Vitali Klitschko. Matthews spent five days in Germany and has practiced for almost a week back here, by himself and the past three days with the team.
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Matthews acknowledged last week that his unexplained injury and the trip overseas had created a media frenzy of his and the club’s own making, but defended his media blackout.
“We didn’t do anything outside the rules of providing information to you guys or the NHL. In my mind, it’s my choice whether I want to share the extent of the injury. I don’t really care, it’s for you guys to talk about and do your thing. In the end, I’ll focus on myself and the team.”
Matthews agreed “there will be a little rust,” on Saturday but he’s going right back to a full workload, centring Knies and William Nylander and part of coach Craig Berube’s second stab at putting five forwards on the power play’s first unit.
Berube had left Max Domi and David Kampf in Toronto to rehab their injuries, while Calle Jarnkrok has yet to play this season and Saturday will be the fourth of Ryan Reaves’s five-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse two weeks ago. But as Matthews and Knies return, McMann exits with a lower body injury after a couple of mishaps in Wednesday’s match.
“The timeline (with McMann) is hard to tell,” Berube said. “He’s day-to-day, out right now and I wouldn’t expect him back for a couple of games.”
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Pontus Holmberg lined up at left wing during Friday’s practice with centre John Tavares and Mitch Marner. Saturday will be yet another chance for Nick Robertson to bust a 12-game goalless slide, joining a new third line with Fraser Minten in the middle and a promoted Steven Lorentz.
Alex Nylander could be the winger left out if Knies can go as Berube expects he will.
“All signs point to that,” Berube said. “We’ve missed Auston, he’s the captain of the team.”
The five-forward power play involving Matthews, Marner, Tavares, William Nylander and Knies has intrigued Berube since he signed on.
“The puck movement and quickness of it all … I really like Knies at the net (a big-body screen) and I really like J.T. in the bumper. How to make that all work, we’ll see how that goes. When we did try it, I thought it looked really good.”
Matthews led the way Friday in praising the group of Marlies who filled in so many places; Minten, winger Nikita Grebenkin, fourth liner Alex Steeves and Alex Nylander.
“Each guy brings something different to the table,” Matthews said. “Grebby is just a treat to watch at all times, like a bowling ball the way he competes. Mints has a great mind for the game and his hockey IQ stands out (an observation many Leafs have made). Nylander junior is buzzing around, Steeves in just how hard he works and checks. It’s been good to see when you have guys out of the lineup.”
There is unlikely to be a change on defence where there have been no major injuries and Berube likes how Simon Benoit and Conor Timmins have worked out. That means an extended seat for Jani Hakanpaa.
While a starting goaltender has yet to be confirmed, Joseph Woll is up if Berube goes back to the rotation he’d changed so that Anthony Stolarz could face his former team, the Panthers, on Wednesday. Woll won his past two games and was named a league star of the previous week.
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