Dave Litman
As if things weren’t bad enough for the Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs of late, you can add in a double dose of bad news on the injury front Tuesday night. Both Auston Matthews and Anthony Stolarz were knocked out of action and did not return to the game.
The captain was blasted from behind by Boston Bruins behemoth defenseman Nikita Zadorov, effectively ending his night after the second period. It’s the second straight game against Boston in which the 6’7” bruising blueliner took out a Maple Leafs center. He hammered Scott Laughton on Saturday night, sending him back to the infirmary after just his second game of the season.
The one positive to take from this latest loss to the Bruins, 5-3, was that Max Domi stood up to Zadorov on behalf of his fallen mates, despite giving up nine inches and 50 pounds to the Russian beast.
The only problem was that it came too little, too late, and resulted in a penalty that ended the Leafs’ failed attempt at a comeback late in the game.
Auston Matthews leaves game after hit from behind by Zadorov
As for Matthews, he left with an upper body injury. We can only hope it’s not any type of recurrence of the upper body problem that kept him out of 15 games last season, and seemed to linger and hamper him most of the campaign. The Leafs will certainly be holding their breath that he doesn’t miss any time. Matthews was just starting to finally find his rhythm this month after a disappointing October.
Leafs head coach Craig Bérubé told reporters after the game that he wasn’t too pleased with Zadorov’s hit from behind on his captain.
“I think it’s a penalty, personally. But I’m not the referee. I don’t like it. I don’t like the hit. [Matthews] is in a vulnerable position. So, whatever. Nothing I can do about it.”
Zadorov claimed innocence on the play.
“It was just a normal play. I didn’t really hit him. I hit my right shoulder, 99% of my hits in the NHL are with my right shoulder,” Zadorov said. “There was really no intention to hurt him. I play hard against top players on the other team, that’s my job.”
Stolarz pulled for 2nd straight game; suffers injury
As for Stolarz, he was pulled for the second straight game after a poor performance in the first period. But we learned later from Bérubé that he also suffered an upper-body injury. The coach said that it doesn’t appear to be serious.
As for the state of Toronto’s goaltending and defense, that does appear to be a serious issue at the moment. The Leafs are dead last in the NHL with a 3.82 goals against average.
