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Less important than another weak effort against a non-playoff team, the damage incurred in the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 loss to Vancouver on Saturday may hamper the club’s pursuit of home-ice advantage the remaining five weeks of the regular season.
Auston Matthews and Ryan O’Reilly both suffered injuries in the loss to the Canucks. Matthews was struck with a shot on the inside of the right knee late in the first period and went to the Toronto locker room. The Leafs top center was not on the bench to start the middle frame, but emerged about six minutes into the second, played over 18 minutes in the contest, and practiced in New Jersey on Monday, centering the top line with Alex Kerfoot and Mitch Marner.
Ryan O'Reilly took a shot off the hand pic.twitter.com/qOm1UjfgJI
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 5, 2023
The Leafs demoted goaltender Joseph Woll to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL but recalled forwards Pontus Holmberg and Alex Steeves on Monday.
Based on the usual recovery time for a broken finger, O’Reilly could be out for the rest of the regular season (which ends April 13). Keefe indicated that O’Reilly will be seeing a specialist on Monday, but currently, there is no timeline for his return.
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