Both players woke up with an illness that star player Auston Matthews admitted has been going around.
BOSTON — It appears an illness is starting to permeate around the Toronto Maple Leafs’ locker room.
The club will be without depth forwards Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann when the team visits the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.
Auston Matthews, who will make his return after a two-game absence with an undisclosed injury, woke up with an illness on Thursday ahead of his team’s game agains the Detroit Red Wings.
“We’ve got some sort of bug going around the team right now,” Matthews said on Saturday. “It is what it is you just have to roll with the punches sometimes.”
With Holmberg and McMann out, the Maple Leafs will have a different look among the bottom-six forward group.
Zach Aston-Reese will skate with David Kampf and Pierre Engvall, while Wayne Simmonds enters the lineup on the fourth line to skate with Dryden Hunt and Alex Kerfoot.
Pontus Holmberg, who has easily been the team’s runaway rookie-of-the-year with his consistent play this season. The team’s sixth-round draft pick (156th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft has been a staple of the team’s bottom-six at the center position and has earned praise for his play by both head coach Sheldon Keefe and teammates alike.
“He’s a stud,” Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner said, repeatedly, of Holmberg during a road trip last month.
The Swede will be out of the lineup for the first time after playing in 27 consecutive games with the club. The 23-year-old has four goals and seven assists in 28 games with the Leafs this season.
Bobby McMann made his NHL debut on Wednesday against the Predators and played in the last couple of games. He nearly scored his first NHL goal in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, only to have the goal called back due to a ‘distinct kicking motion’.
With both of Holmberg and McMann out, Hunt will draw back in, while Simmonds will play in consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 22 against the Winnipeg Jets and Oct. 24 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’s been fine,” Simmonds said of bouncing around the lineup. “Obviously I’d like to be playing a little bit more, but at the same time we’ve got a really good team. Wherever I can help the team, I’ll try to help the team. If that means me playing spot duty, I’m just going to do whatever I can.”