Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews to return to lineup vs. Bruins
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to get their captain and premier scorer back in the lineup on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins.
Leafs center Auston Matthews confirmed himself during a pregame media scrum that he will be returning to the lineup on Saturday.
Auston Matthews confirms he’s playing tonight vs. Bruins.
— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) January 4, 2025Matthews had missed the past six games with an upper-body injury after aggravating it on December 20th against the Buffalo Sabres. He had been approaching the injury on a day-to-day basis, which left plenty of mystery and concern about the nature of the injury. The Leafs went 3-3-0 during his absence.
Matthews has intends to play in Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Based on line rushes during the morning skate, Matthews will slot back on the first line with Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner. The trio have played 193:24 together this season, the 28th most of any line combination in the league, and have outscored the competition 11-10 and have a 59.8% 5v5 expected goal share (xGF%) in their time together.
Matthews has had a slow start to the season by his lofty standards, even without the injury problems, as he has 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points in 24 games on the year. However, he’s been their most effective player at driving play, with a 55.67% 5v5 xGF% that leads all regular Leafs.
Matthews is in the first year of a four-year contract with a $13.25 million cap hit, which is currently the highest cap hit in the league.
Based on morning line rushes, Ryan Reaves will likely be the player to draw out of the lineup in place of Matthews. Reaves has just 2 assists in 26 games this season.
The Leafs will look to build off of back-to-back wins over the New York Islanders when they visit the Bruins in Boston on Saturday at 7 p.m. EST. Toronto currently sits in first in the Atlantic Division with a 24-13-2 record.