UPDATE- Matthews shoulder injury to keep him out minimum four weeks (maple leafs)

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UPDATE- Matthews shoulder injury to keep him out minimum four weeks

By Mike Augello

Oct 29, 2018 • 8:08 am

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UPDATE- Leafs PR tweeted this morning that Auston Matthews will be out a minimum of four weeks with the shoulder injury suffered on Saturday and that he will be placed on injured reserve.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs staged a dramatic late rally in a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, but the excitement over the win was tempered by concern over the injury to leading scorer Auston Matthews, who left the game early in the second period with a left shoulder injury after colliding with Jets blueliner Jacob Trouba.

Matthews left the ice immediately and headed to the Toronto locker room and did not return. Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game that the injured shoulder was not the same one he injured last February, but hinted that this could keep 21-year-old out of the lineup for awhile.

"We’ll know more on Monday. He's not practicing tomorrow and he won't be playing on Monday (against Calgary)." Babcock said. "He's not ready right away for sure."

The Jets were decidedly more physical on Saturday than in the 4-2 loss to the Leafs in Winnipeg earlier in the week and that resulted in a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes on goals by Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele.

Babcock was forced to revamp his forward lines with Matthews unavailable, reuniting Patrick Marleau with Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner and shifting Kasperi Kapanen to the line with John Tavares and Zach Hyman.

Both of the new units paid dividends in the third, as Marner set up Kadri for his second goal of the season that cut the Winnipeg lead in half and then dished a backhand pass into the slot to Jake Gardiner to tie the game with 3:11 left.

Toronto took the lead for good just 26 seconds later, as Tavares tipped the puck to Kapanen, who quickly fired a seeing eye shot over the left shoulder of Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck for the win.

“(Matthews) is a one of a kind player. It’s hard to fill that void, but I don’t think you rely on one specific guy.… Kadri said after the game. “We’ve been talking about depth for 10 months with this group and this is the time that it really showed.… The last 13 months has been an unfortunate stretch for the former Calder Trophy winner. Last season, Matthews missed 20 games with back, concussion and shoulder issues. The most severe was the shoulder injury against the New York Islanders on February 22nd that kept the center out for one month.

If the injury is as severe as his previous shoulder injury, the Leafs are better suited to withstand the loss of Matthews this season. Last year, Marleau and William Nylander shifted to the middle and were good patchwork fixes at best.

With the addition of Tavares, the Leafs have a legitimate #1 center still in place and two-time 30 goal scorer Kadri on the second line. Babcock will likely move Par Lindholm to center the third line and insert Andreas Johnsson into the lineup, but with only 12 healthy forwards on the roster, you could see a call up from the Toronto Marlies, who are idle until Friday in Cleveland.

The most deserving candidate would be Trevor Moore, who impressed Babcock with his hustle and speed during training camp and leads the Marlies with 7 goals and 10 points in nine games.

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