Auston Matthews took the ice for a few minutes during the team's optional skate, speaking to assistant coaches and deflecting shots into a net.
Auston Matthews took the ice for a few minutes during the team's optional skate, speaking to assistant coaches and deflecting shots into a net.
BOSTON — Auston Matthews will not be in the lineup for Game 5 when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins in a must-win game on Tuesday.
The forward was not on the ice for the team's warmup, a confirmation that the star would not be healthy enough to suit up.
Matthews took the ice for the team's optional skate in the morning for approximately five minutes at TD Garden where he worked with assistant coach Manny Malhotra and deflected some shots into a net. He then left the ice before the team's optional skate began.
"He's working through things to try to make himself available to play," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said.
Matthews did not play in the third period of the Toronto Maple Leafs' 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins' in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. On Sunday, Keefe revealed that Matthews has been working through an illness that the player felt worse with every time he "asserted himself on the ice."
Matthews did not take part in the team's practice on Monday ahead of Game 5. The team practiced with lines preparing as if he could not play.
"This time of year, the players are going to do all that they can to get out there and the medical team is going to do all they can to make sure the players are available while also making sure that they're taken care of," Keefe said of Matthews. "So that's what we're working through."
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman believes an illness isn't the only reason Matthews is unable to play.
Keefe declined to answer when pressed if something beyond an illness is bothering Matthews.
The Maple Leafs trail the Bruins 3-1 in their best-of-seven series and will be eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs with a loss on Tuesday. Matthews' setback comes just as William Nylander returned in Game 4, following an absence due to a reported migraine issue.
The Maple Leafs have struggled offensively in this series, scoring only seven goals over four games, going just 1-for-14 on the power play. Improving those numbers will be difficult without Matthews in the lineup.
Matthews led the NHL with 69 goals during the regular season. He has scored 60 or more goals in two of the last three seasons. A healthy Matthews was the difference in Toronto's only win of the series in Game 2. Matthews scored the game-winner and picked up two assists in a 3-2 victory.
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