Toronto Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies leaves game vs. Bruins with possible injury

Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies has yet to return to Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins after a collision with Brad Marchand.

Matthew Knies not on the bench as the 2nd period is about to resume here.

— David Alter (@dalter) March 8, 2024

The Maple Leafs have yet to confirm if Knies will be out for the game, but he suffered the injury midway through the first period and did not play the rest of the period, nor did he return for the second. The Leafs will likely confirm the injury after the game, with more details on the injury and how long Knies will be out before Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Knies, 21, suffered the injury as he was skating into the corner in the Bruins zone and collided with Marchand, who was skating out of the corner. It’s unclear as to whether or not Marchand was intentionally going for Knies or if it was an incident. Marchand did not receive a penalty for the incident.

Knies leaves the game with just a penalty in 3:18 of ice time, with the Leafs losing 1-0 at the time of Knies’ departure. Coincidentally, his penalty was a roughing call on Brad Marchand.

Knies has had a solid rookie season for the Maple Leafs with 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 61 games, although that has come while primarily playing on Toronto’s top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. He is currently in 11th in rookie scoring this season, and is 16 points behind the first-place Connor Bedard.

Knies was a second-round pick of the Maple Leafs in the 2021 NHL Draft, spending two seasons in college with the University of Minnesota before joining the Leafs late in the 2022-23 season for their playoff run, and establishing himself as a consistent player in their lineup for this season.

Knies is currently in the second year of his three-year entry-level contract with a $925,000 cap hit, a deal he signed before making his NHL debut late in the 2022-23 season. It comes with no performance bonuses.

Entering Thursday’s game against the Bruins, the Leafs were in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 36-18-8 record.