<p>Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube confirmed that Auston Matthews will miss Saturday&#8217;s game against the New York Islanders, but his status for Monday&#8217;s game against the Winnipeg Jets is still to be determined.</p>
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<p>Matthews <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/auston-matthews-reportedly-ruled-out-vs-islanders-after-re-aggravating-upper-body-injury">re-aggravated an upper-body injury</a> that kept him out of nine games through November, during Friday&#8217;s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Reaves and Connor Dewar will re-enter the lineup Saturday, while Matthews and Pontus Holmberg come out.</p>
<p>&#8220;Again, he&#8217;s not going to go tonight,&#8221; Berube said of Matthews on Saturday. &#8220;He took a cross-check there late in the third period on the power play. Just aggravated it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here is the play in question. Matthews took a cross-check from Sabres defenceman Dennis Gilbert in the third period.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">and now Matthews is out of the lineup </p>
<p>not saying this caused it, but it definitely didn’t help <a href="https://t.co/pMk56o2LLY">https://t.co/pMk56o2LLY</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Omar (@TicTacTOmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1870539783682077006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Berube dismissed the notion that opponents are looking to attack Matthews when he&#8217;s on the ice, but also felt there should have been a penalty called on Gilbert for cross-checking.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s targeted just because Tage Thompson hit him last night,&#8221; Berube said when asked if Matthews was being targeted. &#8221;</p>
<p>You&#8217;ve got to look at the game. We knew they were going to be a hard team, they&#8217;ve lost 11 in a row. He&#8217;s just trying to get his team going. I don&#8217;t see him being targeted. He got hit. He took the cross-check, to me, it should have been a 5-on-3, automatic, but I&#8217;m not the ref.&#8221;</p>
<p>It will be a crushing loss for the Maple Leafs if Matthews misses extended time. Toronto weathered the storm during his previous absence, posting a 7-2-0 record through November. Matthews has recorded 11 goals and 23 points in 24 games this season.</p>
<p>Berube also said Matthews&#8217; injury is potentially a re-aggravation of his upper-body injury and a new ailment, saying it&#8217;s &#8216;probably a bit of both&#8217; when asked about the specifics of his injury.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s part of the game,&#8221; Maple Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev said Saturday about his team&#8217;s response to a constant wave of injuries. &#8220;You go through periods where there&#8217;s injuries and you go through periods when they aren&#8217;t. Some years that happens more than you wanted. Some years it happens more than other years. It&#8217;s part of playing 82 games in a season, it&#8217;s a grind, it&#8217;s not easy.&#8221;</p>
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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube confirmed that Auston Matthews will miss Saturday's game against the New York Islanders, but his status for Monday's game against the Winnipeg Jets is still to be determined.
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Matthews <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/auston-matthews-reportedly-ruled-out-vs-islanders-after-re-aggravating-upper-body-injury">re-aggravated an upper-body injury</a> that kept him out of nine games through November, during Friday's game against the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Reaves and Connor Dewar will re-enter the lineup Saturday, while Matthews and Pontus Holmberg come out.

"Again, he's not going to go tonight," Berube said of Matthews on Saturday. "He took a cross-check there late in the third period on the power play. Just aggravated it."

Here is the play in question. Matthews took a cross-check from Sabres defenceman Dennis Gilbert in the third period.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1870539783682077006

Berube dismissed the notion that opponents are looking to attack Matthews when he's on the ice, but also felt there should have been a penalty called on Gilbert for cross-checking.

"I don't think he's targeted just because Tage Thompson hit him last night," Berube said when asked if Matthews was being targeted. "

You've got to look at the game. We knew they were going to be a hard team, they've lost 11 in a row. He's just trying to get his team going. I don't see him being targeted. He got hit. He took the cross-check, to me, it should have been a 5-on-3, automatic, but I'm not the ref."

It will be a crushing loss for the Maple Leafs if Matthews misses extended time. Toronto weathered the storm during his previous absence, posting a 7-2-0 record through November. Matthews has recorded 11 goals and 23 points in 24 games this season.

Berube also said Matthews' injury is potentially a re-aggravation of his upper-body injury and a new ailment, saying it's 'probably a bit of both' when asked about the specifics of his injury.

"It's part of the game," Maple Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev said Saturday about his team's response to a constant wave of injuries. "You go through periods where there's injuries and you go through periods when they aren't. Some years that happens more than you wanted. Some years it happens more than other years. It's part of playing 82 games in a season, it's a grind, it's not easy."
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