Despite superstar center Auston Matthews missing the last three games, the Toronto Maple Leafs will look to sweep their four-game homestand on Tuesday when they face one of their Atlantic Division rivals, the Ottawa Senators.
Matthews (upper-body injury) is eligible to come off injured reserve on Tuesday but did not participate in practice on Monday.
Toronto will be without Max Pacioretty (lower-body injury), who was placed on IR after he left Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
While Pacioretty is considered week-to-week, Matthews continues to be classified as day-to-day.
“We want to make sure we get ahead of it and hopefully get it behind us once and for all,” Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said on Monday. “(Matthews) will remain day-to-day. I would say he is doubtful for (Tuesday) but he skated Saturday and Sunday, so we’ll keep going down that path.”
Matthews led the league last season with 69 goals and has five this season in 13 games.
William Nylander and Max Domi also did not practice on Monday for what was termed a maintenance day. They are expected to play Tuesday.
Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist against Montreal to extend his points streak to eight games (three goals, 10 assists).
Morgan Rielly had an assist, joining Borje Salming and Tomas Kaberle as the only Maple Leafs defensemen to record 400 NHL assists.
Toronto’s power play continues to surge after a 4-for-40 start. The Leafs went 2-for-4 on Saturday and are 11-for-53 on the season.
“I thought we checked extremely well for two periods,” coach Craig Berube said. “The power play was good again. Clean pretty much with penalties and I thought we played a real smart game. I was really happy. Third period they made a little push but our goalie (Joseph Woll) was really good for us.”
The Senators won for the second time in five games Saturday, posting a 3-2 overtime road victory over the Boston Bruins.
The Senators improved to 2-5-0 on the road on Saturday when Brady Tkachuk scored 21 seconds into overtime. It was his 12th shot on goal.
“I think the last two games for myself, individually, I haven’t liked the way I’ve been playing with the puck,” said Tkachuk, who also had an assist. “It’s just something that I want to focus on, that every time I have an opportunity to shoot — that I’m pretty confident in my shot — that every time I have the puck on my stick, that has a chance to go in, so I have to start utilizing that more.”
Senators coach Travis Green was impressed with his team’s performance from start to finish.
“We’ve challenged our guys the last couple days here to play more consistent,” Green said. “Play faster, play harder, and they responded in a really good game for 60 minutes.”
“We really showed what kind of team we are,” said Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark, who made 14 saves against his former team. “It’s a statement game, so to speak. We have to learn this is the sort of game we have to play every night, not just here and there.”
Ottawa received good news on the injury front when Shane Pinto (undisclosed) said that he will be able to play on Tuesday. He has missed the past eight games.
