The Toronto Maple Leafs saw captain and superstar forward Auston Matthews leave Tuesday’s game with an injury.
Matthews was hit hard into the boards by Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov. It was a borderline hit, but no penalty was called on that play, which did frustrate head coach Craig Berube.
Following the game, Berube said Matthews still had to get checked out, and there was no timeline on a return. He also wasn’t sure when he got hurt, which likely isn’t a good sign.
“We’ll see tomorrow. Right now, it is lower-body. We will just see tomorrow how he is,” Berube said. “I don’t know exactly. I really can’t give you guys a timeline or tell you how serious it is right now. I’m not sure when he got hurt, to be honest with you.”
Matthews did not return to the game due to the injury, which happened midway through the second period.
Meanwhile, Berube felt like there should have been a penalty on the hit as Matthews was in a vulnerable position.
“I think it is a penalty, personally. But I am not the referee,” Berube added. “I don’t like it. I don’t like the hit. He was in a vulnerable position. There is nothing I can do about it.”
The Maple Leafs ended up suffering a 5-3 loss to the Bruins. Toronto has now lost three straight games and is in second-last in the Eastern Conference.
Bruins Defenseman Defends His Hit on Matthews
Although Berube thought Zadorov’s hit on Matthews was dirty, the veteran defenseman disagreed.
Instead, Zadorov felt like he led up on the hit and tried to protect the Maple Leafs star as much as he could.
“It was just a normal play. I didn’t really hit him. I hit my right shoulder, 99 per cent of my hits in the NHL are with my right shoulder,” Zadorov said. “There was really no intention to hurt him. I play hard against top players on the other team, that’s my job.”
It’s the second-straight game that Zadorov has injured a Maple Leafs forward. During Boston’s 5-3 road win on Saturday, Zadorov laid a massive hit on Scott Laughton, who got injured and has missed the next two games.
Zadorov finished the game with three hits.
Maple Leafs Coach Admits Team is in a ‘Tough Spell’
Toronto has lost three straight games, and there are major concerns about the team.
The Maple Leafs have gotten poor goaltending, while defensively, the team has struggled mightily this season. However, despite the loss on Tuesday, Berube felt like there were some positives the Maple Leafs can take away.
“We are going through some adversity right now, but I liked our response tonight in the game, which goes a long way,” Berube said. “To me, that is playing team hockey, sticking up for your team, and competing for your team. …
“Sometimes, you have to go through a tough spell, and we are right now. I liked the way we pulled it together as a group tonight in the game. That is a positive for me. We’ll see. We are just going to keep battling and getting better. We’ll keep helping these guys out and get some confidence back in our game. We lacked a little confidence early in the game, but when we got down, we played; we played like we can.”
The Maple Leafs will look to snap their losing streak on Thursday when Toronto hosts the Los Angeles Kings.
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