Matthews played Games 1 through 4 for Toronto before missing Games 5 and 6 with, what was at the time, an undisclosed injury.

More has come to light about the injury Auston Matthews suffered in the Maple Leafs' first-round series against the Boston Bruins.

The 26-year-old played arguably one of the best playoff games of his career in Game 2, scoring a goal and two assists for Toronto. However, he wasn't the same following that night.

"At the end of game two, Auston became real sick. Our initial thought was the way he was, as sick as he was, that there was maybe food poisoning of some description. It was a virus that stuck with him throughout game three," Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said during an end-of-season media availability on Friday morning. 

"He suffered a hit in game four, where we couldn't rule out, and we don't know if it was a combination of the sickness, the hit, but he was presenting head injury issues, so we pulled him, and we weren't going to clear him until those things cleared, which they did on the morning, or the afternoon of game seven."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dx29lZAM6k[/embed]

As Treliving states, Matthews returned just in time for Game 7 against the Bruins. He had one assist — on the lone goal scored by William Nylander — in the team's 2-1 overtime loss in Boston.

In his end-of-season media availability, Matthews didn't go into much depth about the reasoning for his absence, saying he was sick, and then, in Game 4, took an awkward hit which caused an injury.

"I mean, obviously, it was tough, it was really frustrating. It sucks and was killing me to watch," the forward said on Monday. 

"Proud of the guys and how they fought and climbed their way back into the series. And I was fortunate to get to play in that game seven and just try to go out there and give it my all. And obviously, it's disappointing and frustrating being here today."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt9U2nzz17w[/embed]

Matthews finished the series with one goal and three assists in five games for Toronto. He finished the regular season with a career-high 69 goals in 81 games, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy and being nominated for the Selke Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award.

The forward is entering the first year of a four-year, $53 million contract next season, with an annual average value of $13.25 million.

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