It was an eventful practice for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they get ready to take on the Edmonton Oilers in a marquee matchup Saturday night.
Auston Matthews is slated to miss his sixth consecutive game due to an upper-body injury. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube indicated that the team is taking their time with Matthews, with three games over the next eight days.
“No setbacks,” Berube said via Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. “We’re doing what we can. We have two games in a long stretch here of time, so we’re just letting him recover.”
Matthews could likely return to the lineup on Nov. 24, when the Maple Leafs host the Utah Hockey Club. He has recorded five goals and 11 points in 13 games this season.
Max Domi missed his second consecutive practice for maintenance reasons, but he’s expected to play Saturday. Domi is in a 12-game point drought, the longest stretch of his career, and he’s been primarily paired with Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner during Matthews’ injury-related absence.
“He’s obviously fighting through something too, but he’ll be good to go tomorrow. It’s just maintenance more for him right now,” Berube said via TSN’s Mark Masters.
It appears that Toronto’s defence pairings largely remain intact from Wednesday, as Jake McCabe was partnered with Chris Tanev, Morgan Rielly joined Jani Hakanpaa, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson was grouped with Conor Timmins. Simon Benoit took reps with Philippe Myers, indicating that he could be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game Saturday.
Here is Toronto’s projected lineup for Saturday’s contest against Edmonton, barring any changes or updates:
Bobby McMann-John Tavares-Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies-Max Domi-William Nylander
Alex Steeves-David Kampf-Pontus Holmberg OR Nick Robertson
Connor Dewar-Steven Lorentz-Ryan Reaves
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Morgan Rielly-Jani Hakanpaa
Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Conor Timmins
Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll
This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.
