Matthews remains out as Leafs prepare for showdown with McDavid's Oilers

The Maple Leafs practiced at Ford Performance Centre in Toronto on Friday. 

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Auston Matthews remained absent from Leafs practice on Friday due to an upper-body injury. The star centre has skated just twice – Saturday and Sunday – in the last 12 days. 

"No setbacks," stressed head coach Craig Berube. "We're just letting him recover."

TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports that Matthews won't be available to play in Saturday's game against the Edmonton Oilers. It will be the sixth straight game he's missed making this his longest injury absence since the 2018-19 season. Matthews missed just one regular season game, due to illness, last season. He missed two playoff games.  

The undisclosed ailment first popped up during training camp when Matthews departed a practice early and missed a pre-season game. The 27-year-old returned for the team's final exhibition outing before dressing in the first 13 games of the regular season. Matthews scored just five goals, though, while shooting 8.9 per cent, which is well below his career average of 16. 

"We want to get him 100 per cent," said Berube. "We want to get it behind us so he can move forward and we can move forward here."

Following Wednesday's 4-3 comeback victory in Washington, the schedule is finally slowing down for the Leafs, who play just twice in a 10-day stretch. 

Matthews, who last suited up on Nov. 3, has continually been listed as "day-to-day" by the team. Is Berube surprised by how long Matthews has been out? 

"Everybody's different and all the injuries and things are different," Berube said. "I mean, I don't have an answer for you with that. Would I like him back? Yeah, for sure. But it is what it is. So, we've just got to keep moving on without him right now."

The Leafs have won four of five games without Matthews. 

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With Matthews, a Selke Trophy nominee last season, sidelined, the task of slowing down Connor McDavid gets even tougher for the Leafs on Saturday. 

"It's pretty nerve wracking," said left winger Matthew Knies, who is minus-two in two career games against the Oilers. "He's really skilled, really fast so you just don't want to get beat, and try to limit his offence. He's a pleasure to watch, but it's pretty nerve wracking playing against him."

Anthony Stolarz is expected to get the start on Saturday. McDavid has scored twice on the goalie in three career match-ups against him. One of the goals was a bank shot from below the goal line in December 2018 when Stolarz played for the Philadelphia Flyers. 

"I was a little younger so kind of all over the place," Stolarz, 30, recalled with a smile. "It just goes to show you his hockey IQ and the way he thinks the game. You really can never take a second off when he has the puck, because he's capable of doing things like that."

McDavid has three goals and 13 assists during an eight game point streak in Toronto. The pride of Newmarket, Ont. has multiple points in four of those games. The last time McDavid was held off the score sheet in a homecoming game was Dec. 10, 2017.

"When he's on the ice everybody's got to pay attention," Berube warned. "You got to take time and space away from him the best you can and deny him the puck as much as you can. That's really it."

And that still may not be enough. 

McDavid picked up point No. 1,000 and 1,001 during Edmonton's overtime win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. It was the 659th game in McDavid's career. He's the fourth-fastest player to reach 1,000 points behind only Wayne Gretzky (424 games), Mario Lemieux (513 games) and Mike Bossy (656 games).  

"Pretty incredible," Berube said. "I think if you look at today's game and how fast it is and just the structure of the game, how teams play defence ... it's very impressive. He's just incredible with the speed and the agility he has and the control with the puck at that speed."

Berube played against Gretzky. How does he compare to McDavid? 

"I'm not comparing players," Berube said with a laugh. "Wayne Gretzky's Wayne Gretzky. That's the best way I can say it. There's only one Wayne Gretzky."

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John Tavares reached the 1,000-point milestone around this time last year so he can relate to what McDavid is feeling. Kind of. 

"There's a little sense of the journey to get there, but his journey was a lot shorter than mine," Tavares said with a smile. "So, maybe it was just another one for him."

Tavares needed 1,054 games to reach the four-digit club. So, that's 395 games more than McDavid. 

"It's pretty remarkable," Tavares said. "We'll have our hands full tomorrow."

With Matthews out and Max Domi struggling as a stand-in centre, Tavares is suddenly the team's No. 1 man down the middle. And he's elevated his game with five points in the last five outings. 

On Wednesday, Tavares got the Leafs going by making a nice play around Capitals defenceman Matt Roy to set up Bobby McMann for the team's first goal. 

"That was unbelievable," McMann raved. "Just went triangle, triangle, went around the guy and drew everybody in."

"Some good speed coming through the neutral zone," Tavares said. "Just felt it was a good opportunity to challenge one-on-one."

The 34-year-old won a key offensive-zone faceoff with the goalie pulled, which led to the tying goal by Mitch Marner late in the third period. 

"He was on fire," noted winger William Nylander. 

Tavares saved his best for last. In overtime, he tracked down an area pass from Marner and made a nice move to beat Logan Thompson in tight. 

"He definitely had a little jump in his step," Stolarz observed. "Put the speed burners on for that overtime goal. It must be those new CCM skates. He's been playing well. He's been a leader in the room and someone that plays a two-way game, and the younger guys can look up to him. When he's going and he's playing at his best, it kind of rallies the team and makes everyone want to play just like him."

It was Tavares' 18th career overtime goal, which allowed him to pass Ilya Kovalchuk for sole possession of fifth-place on the all-time list. The only players with more are Alex Ovechkin (26), Sidney Crosby (22), Brad Marchand (21) and Jaromir Jagr (19). 

"I thought their goalie might come out and challenge, so I just tried to get up there as quick as I can," Tavares said. "I had a feeling I wanted to make a move just because of the angle I was at and, with him moving laterally, I knew he might have to open up, so I just tried to be aware of possibly going five hole and it worked out."

Even though Toronto was playing on consecutive nights, Tavares logged a season high 20 minutes and 56 seconds. 

"He was excellent again," Berube said. "He has been playing really well. He is just a competitor. He is so good with his stick in tight areas, winning battles and stick battles."

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Domi, who has filled in as a top-six centre since Matthews exited the lineup, missed Friday's practice. He also sat out the team's previous practice on Monday. 

"He is obviously fighting through something," Berube said. "He will be good to go tomorrow. It is just more maintenance for him."

Domi has yet to score this season and is mired in a career long 12 game point drought. 

"Players like that, they're going to struggle mentally a little bit with it," Berube acknowledged. "He had some opportunities last game, it didn't go in. He's just got to keep fighting through it. He'll be fine. But, obviously, he feels it. And, you know, I feel it for him. We talk to him about it and he's got to just fight through it."

With Domi joining Matthews on the sidelines on Friday, Nylander skated as the centre on the second line. 

"He's really good in the face-off dot," Berube noted. "He was fine in the middle today. He looked good to me."

The team experimented with Nylander as a centre to start training camp, but quickly moved him back to the wing where he's played most of his NHL career. 

On Wednesday, Nylander scored his team-leading 12th goal. One night earlier, though, he got an earful from Berube on the bench after some lackadaisical defensive-zone coverage. 

"A lot of times I just want Willy to work or check a little bit more without the puck," Berube explained. 

The coach believes Nylander's speed and ability to create takeaways could help him generate even more offence. 

"I watch him win puck battles in the offensive zone and he's very good at it," Berube said. "He strips people of pucks, [goes] the other way, he's going to get more chances. That's how I try to word it with him. He can force people into bad plays and go the other way with his speed."

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McMann's goal snapped a 13-game drought for the winger, who had last scored way back on Oct. 16. 

"A little bit of relief and excitement as well, because you feel like when you get one, more come," McMann said. 

The 28-year-old from Wainwright, Alta. finished the game with a career high eight shots on net. 

"I was able to get quite a few chances," McMann said. "Would have liked maybe one more [goal], but sticking with it and happy about getting chances."

McMann remained on the top line with Marner and Tavares at practice. 

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The Leafs overcame a 3-1 deficit and two disallowed goals in the third period on Wednesday. 

The first controversial call came after Steven Lorentz directed a puck into the net with his leg. 

"The puck went in the air and when it's up in your chest like that your instinct is to just tense everything," the fourth-line centre explained. "I was taking that ice anyway because I didn't want to skate right through the net. I was trying to skate by the net and it hit my leg and it went in. I was surprised it went in because I thought it would go wide with me."

According to Rule 78.5 (i), apparent goals shall be disallowed, 'When the puck has been directed, batted or thrown into the net by an attacking player other than with a stick. When this occurs, if it is deemed to be done deliberately, then the decision shall be NO GOAL. A goal cannot be scored when the puck has been deliberately batted with any part of the attacking player's body into the net."

Lorentz initially thought the goal would count. 

"The coaches had our video guys in their ear and they said they thought it was good. The longer it took I was like, this is never good when it takes this long ... If we lost I would've been more pissed off."

Later in the third period, Knies deflected a point shot into the net, but it was immediately waved off. The referee ruled that Knies made contact with the puck above the crossbar. 

"I didn't really do myself justice when I kept my stick pretty high to start with," Knies said. "But I think when I made contact with it it was below the crossbar. I haven't really seen all the views of it, but we won the game so it doesn't really matter." 

Knies went on to draw a penalty, which led to the game-tying goal. 

"The guys stuck with it," Berube said. "They weren't focused on it. They just focused on the next shift, which is good by them."

The Leafs peppered Thompson with 18 shots in the third period. 

"We really figured out our game," Knies said of the rally. "Just kind of held it in the O-zone for a little longer. Our D got shots through from the point."

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Knies benefited from video review in the second period after a collision with Nic Dowd left the Capitals centre bloodied. 

"I apologized to him," Knies said. "I really didn't mean to collide with him. It wasn't my intention to hurt him or hit him there. I simply didn't see him coming behind Domi. It's unfortunate and I'm just glad he's OK."

The referees initially called a double minor for high sticking before rescinding the penalty upon review. 

Dowd suffered a broken nose, but was able to return to the game and is expected to play on Friday night. 

At 6-foot-3, 227-pounds, Knies can do a lot of damage even when he's not trying to hit someone. 

"Plays happen quick," the 22-year-old said. "I try to scrunch up and not really extend out."

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Oliver Ekman-Larsson dressed in his 1,000th career game on Wednesday. 

"It's hard to take in," the defenceman said before the game. "You always dream about playing that one game in the NHL, right? And I've had the chance to play 1,000 games, so it's special."

"That's crazy," marvelled McMann, who has played in 83 NHL games. "That's a long time. A long commitment to playing in the league and it's impressive."

Ekman-Larsson will receive a silver stick during a pre-game ceremony on Saturday. 

After Wednesday's game, Nylander revealed his countryman planned to take the team out to dinner to mark the milestone. 

"I felt like I wanted to do something for the guys," the 33-year-old Swede told TSN. "The way that the organization has treated me since I got here, me and my family, it's at least one thing I can do. I can take them out to dinner and enjoy getting to know them a little bit more."

Ekman-Larsson signed a four-year deal with a $3.5-million annual-average value in the summer. 

The free dinner had teammates buzzing after Wednesday's win. 

"I'm excited for that," McMann said with a big smile. "I'm sure he's got some expensive taste."

"Always looking forward to a free dinner," said Marner.

Nylander is hoping for some "expensive wine." 

"I don't even know if he likes wine, to be honest with you," Ekman-Larsson said with a grin. "I think he just wants to get the bill going a little bit more. He'll get it if he wants it, but I may have to cap him a little bit too."

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Leafs lines at Friday's practice: 

McMann - Tavares - Marner
Knies - Nylander - Robertson
Steeves - Kampf - Holmberg 
Dewar - Lorentz - Revaes

McCabe - Tanev 
Rielly - Hakanpää
Ekman-Larsson - Timmins
Benoit - Myers 

Stolarz 
Woll