Auston Matthews skipped the club's full morning skate in Buffalo. Given the lack of production from the Toronto Maple Leafs' star, it's clear he isn't 100 percent. Auston Matthews hasn't looked the same since returning from an upper-body injury 11 games ago and now it appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs star is set to miss more games. According to TSN's Chris Johnston, Matthews won't be available to the Maple Leafs when they host the New York Islanders after re-aggravating his upper-body injury from November and is also questionable to take part in Toronto's game on Monday against the Winnipeg Jets before the holiday break. Matthews missed nine games in November due to a lingering upper-body injury that dated back to the preseason. The star had five goals and six assists in his first 13 games this season before he was shut down. Matthews went so far as to fly to Germany to seek additional treatment before returning on Nov. 30 in a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Leafs had expressed optimism that the player was fully recovered, however, Matthews had not regained his previous superstar form, oftentimes missing the net or losing puck battles. During Saturday's 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, Matthews was the recipient of two pretty hard hits to the upper body. One was by Tage Thompson in the first period, prompting Morgan Rielly to step into a fight with the Buffalo forward. Later in the game, Buffalo's Dennis Gilbert delivered a nasty hit to Matthews and the star was a bit slow to get up. The Leafs went 7-2-0 in the nine games Matthews wasn't in the lineup this season. Matthews has 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 games this season. The Leafs and Matthews have never disclosed exactly what Matthews is dealing with. "I don't think there's really any secrecy. Like, I don't think we did anything outside of the rules of providing information to you guys in the NHL. So I think it just gets a little blown out of proportion with the marketplace and you guys being a little bit nosy," Matthews explained on Nov. 30.
