The forward took a shot off his leg by teammate Rasmus Sandin that forced him to leave the game. But the Maple Leafs captain returned in the third period and was a full participant in practice.
SUMMERLIN, Nev. — The Toronto Maple Leafs were breathing a sigh of relief when their top-point getter returned to the bench in the third period of the team’s 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.
“It’s really not that bad,” Tavares said following the team’s practice on Wednesday. “There’s no muscle on the nerve where it is. The swelling has been good.”
Tavares was writhing in pain on the ice in the third period when Rasmus Sandin’s shot from the point hit the captain on the outside of his knee. He had to be helped off the ice by his linemates and was gone got approximately ten minutes when he re-emerged on the bench during the final TV timeout in an effort to help his team mount a comeback.
“You just expect the pain to go away a little bit quicker,” Tavares explained. “I tried to get up just to get to the bench and I couldn’t put any weight on it so it was just really uncomfortable. Once I got back into the hallway all I had to do was wait until I could put some weight on it.’
Tavares said that Sandin apologized to him for the friendly fire, but said the defenseman had nothing to apologize for.
“He was just trying to get it [the puck] to the net,” Tavares said.
The 32-year-old Tavares is off to his best start since the 2018-19 when he rcorded six goals and four assist in his first five games as a Maple Leaf. He currently leads the club with eight points (three goals, and five assists).
The veteran forward has already overcome an oblique injury he sustained during the team’s first pre-season game on Sept. 24.
With Toronto struggling to generate offense in the early going, the loss of Tavares could have had damaging consequences. But in the 48 hours since the injury occurred, Tavares explained that it’s just a contusion now.
“The doc said it was right in the nerves,’ he explained. “Earlier in the game, I got hit in the same quad. The leg wasn’t firing, but when I came back, everything was stable.”
The Maple Leafs shuffled up their forward lines ahead of their game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the only line head coach Sheldon Keefe kept in tact was Tavares’ line with William Nylander and Nick Robertson.
Nylander leads the team in goals with four goals. Tavares set up Nylander’s tally on Monday, the team’s only offense against Vegas.