Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has revealed where he stands with his overall health after returning from his second stint on the sidelines due to injury.
Auston Matthews has taken over the headlines in recent weeks, not for his play but for his injury situation, which had the Toronto Maple Leafs and their loyal fanbase sitting back and hoping for the best, albeit with some degree of concern.
The first injury took place in November when he was forced to miss nearly the entirety of the month with what was labelled as an upper-body injury. He returned for 12 games before re-aggravating that same injury, which apparently pre-dates to the pre-season.
Due to the nature of the injury, his lengthy absence and the constant reminder that there was no concrete timetable for his return, as well as the fact that he's the captain of the team and a former MVP, there was a lot of cause for concern about his status moving forward.
Matthews returned to the ice ahead of the Maple Leafs' matchup against the Boston Bruins on Saturday and scored a goal before adding 2 assists as well. He then took that momentum and scored 1 goal and 3 assists in 2 games against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Matthews had a slow start to the season, at least to his lofty standards, but his recent play has him feeling a lot better about his season as a whole and feels like his confidence has returned:
'I feel good, I think every night I've felt better You want to keep that momentum going.My linemates have been making it easy on me. It always helps when the puck goes in the back of the net and it gives you a bit of confidence. I just want to take it one game at a time.'
Perhaps all he needed was to play against two teams he's done very well against in the past. However, Matthews is returning to form in short order with 2 goals and 7 points in 3 contests, which bodes well for his overall game play as well as the team, as the Leafs are currently riding a 5-game winning streak.
His linemates have also played very well since his return with Marner posting 1 goal and 6 assists and Matthew Knies scoring 5 goals and adding 2 assists, which is incredibly important considering their daunting schedule ahead in the second half that starts with a road matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
Matthews currently has 13 goals and 30 points in 27 games, and while he probably won't score 60 goals this season, he can certainly reach 30 goals and perhaps try for 40 if he really gets on a heater down the stretch.
However, all that really matters right now is that the captain is healthy, confident, and helping the team win as they aim for their first division title since 1999-00 - not accounting for the North Division during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
