Whether Auston Matthews was going for 70 goals or not, the Maple Leafs head coach says his star player was probably going to play in Tampa.

TAMPA, Fla. — Sitting at 69 goals heading into the final regular season game, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews will be in the lineup when the club visits the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

In a game that is essentially meaningless for both clubs, Keefe will dress the same 12 forwards that dressed in the team's 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. But Matthews will get one last chance at 70 goals as he'll occupy his regular spot in the lineup. 

"It was a brief discussion just about the idea of 11 (forwards) and 7 (defensemen), but the reality is for me, like the 70-goal thing aside, Auston's playing good and feeling good. And, you know, if I had more guys to sit, to rest, probably wouldn't even be at the top of my list for me quite honestly, Keefe said of dressing Matthews. "In terms of Auston, there's not much of a discussion there. A I like that we can get some of our defensemen to rest."

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Keefe used his surplus of defensemen to rest Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe and Joel Edmundson, As TJ Brodie, Mark Giordano and Conor Timmins returned to action.

Matthews registered five shots on goal but had his goal-scoring streak snapped against the Panthers on Tuesday. If he scores a goal against the Lightning on Wednesday, he'd become the first NHL player to reach 70 in a season since Teemu Selanne and Alex Mogilny each scored 70 during the 1992-93 season.

The Leafs only have 12 healthy forwards at the moment with Bobby McMann (lower-body), Max Domi (undisclosed) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand) all out with injury.

Matthews has 69 goals and 38 assists in 80 games this season. William Nylander is three assists away from his first 100-point season. He had an assist taken away after a scoring change to one of the Leafs goals against Florida on Tuesday.

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