An undermanned Maple Leafs defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Tuesday. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated some players still took part while battling an illness.
An undermanned Maple Leafs defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Tuesday. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated some players still took part while battling an illness.
Add William Nylander as the latest casualty of a flu bug going around the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The star forward did not take part in the team's practice on Wednesday after scoring a goal and logging 19:38 of ice time in a 4-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
The Maple Leafs played the game without John Tavares and Mitch Marner due to a flu bug that has been going around the club's locker room. Following the game, head coach Sheldon Keefe admitted more players were affected but they plowed through it so that the club didn't have to play the game with less than 18 skaters.
At practice on Wednesday, Keefe confirmed Nylander's absence was also a result of the illness and their status for Thursday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers is up in the air.
"They were feeling well enough where it made sense for them to come in today," Keefe said of all three players. "We'll monitor it today and they'll try to get some food down and see where they are at."
It's not the first time the flu bug has bitten the Leafs this season. Earlier in the year, Auston Matthews and TJ Brodie were forced to miss a game due to illness. Ilya Samsonov also had his own battle with a bug.
On Tuesday, the Leafs announced that defenseman Conor Timmins is out indefinitely with a mononucleosis. The team says they don't suspect Tavares and Nylander have anything that Timmins had.
The Leafs host the Philadelphia Flyers where Ilya Samsonov is confirmed to start. Martin Jones did not take part although he did some on-ice work before the team's practice session on Wednesday.
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