The Maple Leafs will have to make do without their captain again.
Auston Matthews won’t play on Friday night against the Detroit Red Wings in the Hockey Hall of Fame game at Scotiabank Arena, coach Craig Berube confirmed after Toronto’s optional morning skate.
Matthews didn’t take part with a couple of handfuls of his teammates and hasn’t been on the ice since Sunday.
Matthews has been dealing with an upper-body issue this week. He missed time in training camp for a similar reason.
It seems quite clear that Matthews also won’t play on Saturday when the Leafs play host to the Montreal Canadiens to finish a rare back-to-back set at home.
Berube wouldn’t close that door when he was asked whether Matthews is a possibility for Saturday, though.
“Yeah, there’s …” Berube said, catching himself. “We’re going in the right direction (which) is good news.”
The Leafs haven’t had big problems in the past when Matthews has been out of the lineup. In games that Matthews has missed since his National Hockey League debut in 2016, Toronto is 36-19-2 — including a 4-0 shutout against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
“I think it’s just a matter of of guys trying to take on more responsibility,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “You realize that you’re at a loss without him and guys have to step up, and you have to pull more weight.
“The goal will always be to have that mentality when everyone’s healthy and playing, but when you lose a player, and an extremely important player like him, you need more out of everyone.
“When you’re able to achieve that, you’re able to come together as a team in a way. We were lucky enough to get a result that we liked the last time out, so we’ll see if we can do it again.”
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