Bittersweet update on Auston Matthews

Last night, Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. While he skated Tuesday morning, he also missed Sunday’s game against the New York Islanders.

Some believe the Maple Leafs are giving him a rest ahead of the postseason, others wonder if Matthews is badly injured. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe attempted to offer an update, per TSN’s Mark Masters, but it sounds quite bittersweet. Fans aren’t sure what it really means while Masters indicated that there will be no practice for the Leafs on Wednesday, but that Matthews is expected to skate before flight to Tampa. That's the good news though Keefe shared this about his star player, which sounds more worrisome: 

“It’s a new injury and something he hasn’t dealt with before so we want to make sure he’s feeling comfortable … We have to make sure we’re putting him in a good spot.”

As the update came in last night, fans were quick to speculate on what was happening to Matthews, though many get that the Maple Leafs prefer to keep his ailment on the down low ahead of the playoffs. While Toronto is in a great spot entering the postseason, we all know that they have struggled for years to make it past the first round, and an healthy Matthews might be the only way to accomplish that this year.

Let’s see if he missed the game against the Lightning on Thursday night first…