Matthews still not skating for Maple Leafs
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Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has still not returned to the ice as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury, TSN's Mark Masters reported Wednesday.
Matthews last skated on Sunday, Nov. 3, when the Maple Leafs lost 2-1 in overtime against the Minnesota Wild.
"Everybody just needs to do their job out there," head coach Craig Berube said of playing without Matthews when it was revealed he was suffering from an injury. "I don't think you focus on, 'Oh, Auston's not playing so what are we going to do?' We've got a good team, got good players ... You've just got to go play."
Toronto won three games in a row with Matthews out of the lineup last week, where they scored a total of 10 goals, but the team struggled to generate offensive opportunities in a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
A Connor Timmins goal on a shot that was deflected by an opposing player is the only even-strength goal the Maple Leafs have scored in their last five contests - four of which were played without Matthews.
Former captain John Tavares has some strong words after the loss to the Senators.
"We should be disappointed," said Tavares. "We can say we can wash this one, but I think it's disappointing, just with the way we've been playing over the past week and a good chance to carry it over."
Going into Wednesday's game in Washington, Toronto's offence ranked 18th in the NHL in goals per game (2.94), far below their total of 3.63 a season ago that was good for second-best in the NHL.
It's been a work in progress under Berube in his first year with the Maple Leafs this season, and he shared some of the disappointment following Tuesday's game as well.
"There wasn't much good to talk about with the game overall," Berube said. "We got out-skated. They wanted it more than us. That is the bottom line."
In 13 games this season, Matthews has five goals and 11 points. He led all goal scorers a season ago, when he finished with 69 - the most in a single season since Mario Lemieux finished with 69 in the 1995-96 season.