Important Auston Matthews game day update for the Leafs

The Maple Leafs have a big test ahead tonight against the Boston Bruins, down 2-1 in the series. Unfortunately for Boston, Auston Matthews woke up feeling dangerous.

Ahead of Wednesday's Game 3, time stood still for Leafs fans for a the better part of an hour when Auston Matthews was absent from practice. However, when Sheldon Keefe revealed that he would play on Wednesday evening, the fan base was able to let out a huge sigh of relief.

On Friday, a similar turn of events took place, with Matthews missing practice ahead of a crucial Game 4 tonight. Thankfully, Keefe revealed that Matthews was taking some extra rest to try to get his energy levels up after battling an illness.

This morning, however, all appears to be right in the world of the Maple Leafs, as Matthews took to the ice at Scotiabank Arena for a game day skate, indicating that he's back to feeling like himself. When a 69-goal scorer is feeling like himself, that's not good news for Boston.



Matthews put on a clinic in Game 2 on Monday, scoring the game-winning goal and adding 2 assets to cap off a 3-point night. Brad Marchand answered right back with a 3-point night of his own on Wednesday in a 4-2 Bruins win in Game 3 while Matthews battled an illness and was held off the scoresheet. I'm sure Matthews is hungry for another big night as this series reaches an important juncture.

A win tonight sends the Leafs back to Boston for Game 5 with the series all knotted up at 2 games apiece. A loss puts the Leafs on the brink of elimination and would require them to beat the Bruins 3 consecutive times to advance.

For the sake of the fans and our collective sanity, we're hoping that Matthews can bring his A-game tonight and find a solution to the Jeremy Swayman problem. It doesn't hurt that William Nylander is expected back tonight as well, giving the Leafs another offensive weapon to try and utilize to send the series back to Boston with the series evened up.