Matthews was engaged in a positional battle with Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter when he fell to the ice and was inadvertently kneed in the back of the head by Hurricanes Brett Pesce skating by. Hurricanes Nino Niederreiter was concerned for Matthews and tried to see if he was ok. Matthews laid down on the ice until he was assessed by medical staff and then left the game and did not return.
Following the big win over the Hurricanes, understandably, all the questions by the media were on the status of Auston Matthews. Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe spoke with the media and confirmed that Matthews will miss Tuesday's practice but also said, Matthews could be out of the lineup a lot longer but didn't say how long. Sheldon Keefe would say this,
"We'll give it some time here to settle down and assess Mathews properly. I had him taking a scheduled day off tomorrow anyway coming back from the All-Star Game. That will give even more time for him to get assessed and make a determination from there. He's a very important player for our team so we want to make sure he's ok before returning to the team. "
The Leafs sit comfortably in a playoff spot with a 30-10-3 record. They're currently 3rd in the Atlantic division, and only 6 points behind the Florida Panthers who are sitting on top of the division, but the Leafs have 4 games in hand.
