BOSTON — Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews returned from a two-game absence Saturday night and scored a goal in a 4-3 loss to the Boston Bruins.
Matthews missed the previous two games with an undisclosed injury. But he took part in morning skate at TD Garden with his teammates and was on Toronto’s first line for the matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.
Matthews netted his 21st goal of the season in the third period, drawing the Maple Leafs even with the Bruins, but Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk scored just his second goal of the season at the 18:44 mark of the frame, securing the win for the home team.
Grzelcyk slapped the puck through a screen and into the net. Toronto goaltender Matt Murray complained that he had been interfered with, but there was no challenge as the Maple Leafs fell to 3-4 in their past seven games.
Toronto went 1-1 in the stretch without their top player, but the offense clearly lagged, as the Maple Leafs amassed just three goals. Matthews helped the club match that output against the top team in the NHL, but it wasn’t enough.
Prior to the game, Matthews described his injury as “nagging,” and during his absence, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said the ailment has “been bothering him for a while.”
“It’s just something I’ve got to stay on top of with the medical team and the staff,” Matthews said, “and making sure I get the care and treatment that I obviously need to perform every night.”
Matthews — who skated on his own Friday, an official day off for the club as he plotted his return — now has 48 points this season, a year after winning the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. In the loss, he finished with 27 shifts, covering 20:08 time on the ice.
“Obviously, you’d always like to be better and push myself to do more,” Matthews said. “I have high expectations for myself. But at the same time, I think the way we’ve been playing as a team this year, defensively especially, I think that’s just spoken to our growth as a team and our maturity and the way we’ve been able to win games.”
Given the loss, the Maple Leafs, at 59 points, are 11 behind first-place Boston.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com