Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said the star forward is fine after leaving the team’s practice early after taking a puck off his left foot.
“He’s fine.”
That’s the update from Sheldon Keefe on star forward Auston Matthews, who took a puck off his foot during practice and departed the session early.
Although that is certainly good news for his club, the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach didn’t provide any other details on Matthews.
The forward was hurt while skating in a drill at practice on Friday. He appeared to be the recipient of some friendly fire and immediately went down on to the ice after taking a puck off the foot. He skated around the ice for awhile and attempted to take part in the next drill before ultimately deciding to leave the session.
Matthews has eight goals and 19 points while playing in all 18 regular season games for Toronto in 2022-23. Although he missed games last season while recovering from off-season wrist surgery, the forward has shown the ability to withstand and play through some bumps along the way.
The most notable example of this was last month when he was the recipient of cross check from Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn. Matthews finished the game but appeared to be in discomfort favouring the lower side of his back. He showed the same discomfort in the following game against the Winnipeg Jets.
“Ever since I’ve come here he’s played through a lot of things, injuries, bumps and bruises and usually handles those things well,” Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said of Matthews. “Hopefully all is good and he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
The Maple Leafs didn’t do any line rushes at practices today but based on the jersey colours, there didn’t appear to be any changes planned for their lineup against Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
Keefe, however, said he’s yet to make any calls on his lineup, apart from Matt Murray starting against the Sabres.
“We haven’t discussed that and [we’ll] make a decision for tomorrow” Keefe said.