The skilled forward is set to miss his sixth and seventh straight game with a reported high-ankle sprain.
The skilled forward is set to miss his sixth and seventh straight game with a reported high-ankle sprain.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will continue to be without the services of Mitch Marner when they club gets ready for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday.
Marner did not skate during the team's practice at Ford Performance Centre on Friday as the club prepared to take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
"He is progressing. He's skated the last few days. So that's progress for sure," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Marner. "The plan is for him to take tomorrow off again and then get back to it. But yeah, he's skating. He was out there for a bit today before practice. So he's making progress, but not available this weekend."
Marner sustained a reported high-ankle sprain during the club's 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on March 7. At the team's last practice, Keefe said that Marner was "day-to-day away from being day-to-day" saying that his injury hadn't responded in the way the team's medical staff had hoped.
Marner has 25 goals and 51 assists in 62 games with the Maple Leafs this season. Over the last couple of games, the club has placed Max Domi top-line right-winger spot alongside Auston Matthews that Marner has traditionally occupied.
"It a chance for me to see it and I don't want to pass that up," Domi said about playing with Matthews. "I'm just trying to make the most of the opportunity and help him out and make it easier on him as much as I can."
Matthews and Domi have gotten to know each other off-ice since the two have shared the same agent, Judd Moldaver." That increased as they became teammates as both players enjoy playing tennis.
"I'm his number one fan. I love getting to know him. "Domi said of Matthews. "Great human being. Super humble. Works hard."
Tyler Bertuzzi, who played on that top line with Domi and Matthews in Toronto's 7-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday missed practice as he continues to recover from illness.
Matthew Knies practiced in Bertuzzi's place.
"He's a great guy to play with and a big piece of this team," Domi said of Knies.
After this weekend's slate of games against Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Marner will have missed seven consecutive games with the injury.
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