Auston Matthews was back on the Scotiabank Arena ice Thursday morning. That wasn't the case when his Maple Leafs once again faced elimination roughly 10 hours later.
TORONTO - Auston Matthews was back on the Scotiabank Arena ice Thursday morning.Head coach Sheldon Keefe announced following Toronto's 11 a.m. skate - in which Matthews didn't partake - the star sniper would be unavailable for Game 6 with Toronto down 3-2 in its first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins.
The workhorse centre, who led the NHL with the league's first 69-goal regular season in almost three decades, skated Wednesday at the team's practice facility and again Thursday for about 30 minutes before Toronto's playing group took the ice. The three-time Maurice Richard Trophy winner as the NHL's top goal-scorer, Matthews had a monster three-point Game 2 to help Toronto even the series 1-1, but didn't look like himself two nights later in a 4-2 loss as he battled the illness.
“It just shows the strength of the group and the importance of the group,” Keefe said. “Not looking to others to do the job, but just doing your part and then trusting that the group will find a way to prevail in the end.” Toronto is 1-16 all-time when trailing a series 3-1, but Boston blew the same lead last season in the first round against Florida.
Matthews became the first NHLer since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96 to reach 69 goals, falling one short of becoming the ninth in history to hit 70.
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