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The Toronto Maple Leafs may have dodged a bullet, as center Auston Matthews returned to the ice for practice. The Leafs leading scorer left the 4-3 victory over Carolina on Monday in the third period after colliding with Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce. Matthews stayed on the ice for more than a minute before skating to the Leafs locker room to be reviewed by the club’s medical staff.
Auston Matthews back on the ice @TSN_Edge pic.twitter.com/pWDUWr1BmT
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) February 9, 2022
According to head coach Sheldon Keefe, Matthews felt pretty good after coming in on his day off on Tuesday and his taking to the ice at the Ford Performance Centre on Wednesday is a good sign that he will be in the lineup when the Leafs take on the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
It is expected that Jack Campbell will get the start after a lengthy respite after All-Star weekend.
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With the Leafs win over the Canes, the club moved to within three points of Tampa Bay and six points of first-place Florida with three games in hand on the Lightning and four games on the Panthers.
Of the 39 games remaining this season, Toronto’s home/away split is pretty much down the middle (19 games at Scotiabank Arena and 20 on the road), and after their swing through Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest the next three games, the Leafs will not travel west of the Mississippi River the rest of the season, but with nine games postponed due to the Omicron wave and the attendance limitations in Ontario, the club will be playing 10 times in the last 18 days of February.
Where the club faces a significant challenge is its strength of schedule. Toronto has yet to face the Panthers and has two more games against the Lightning, which could be the determining factor of where the Leafs finish in the Atlantic.
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI
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