Craig Berube Addresses Leafs Captain Auston Matthews' Status For Thursday's Game

The injury bug has hit the Toronto Maple Leafs hard over the last few weeks with key players at all positions going down, including the likes of Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, Brandon Carlo, Scott Laughton, Matthew Knies, and Auston Matthews.

It's never easy to pick up the pieces when you have multiple key players going down with injury, let alone star talent like Matthews. The Leafs' captain was injured during their 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins last week before being placed on the injured reserve a few days later with a lower-body injury.

In his absence, the Leafs' losing streak reached 5 games, but they were able to finally snap out of it last night after recording a 3-2 overtime victory over a struggling St. Louis Blues team.

With the Leafs back in action in short order against Columbus tomorrow night, they'll be doing it without Matthews' services, according to head coach Craig Berube.

Berube mentioned on Wednesday that Matthews is coming along and improving by the day, but it isn't enough for them to activate him from injured reserve in time for Thursday's game.

The Leafs will once again have to lean on William Nylander and John Tavares to pick up the slack, as they have all season long. However, getting secondary contributions from the likes of Nicholas Robertson and Max Domi, among others, is going to be crucial to stay afloat until the reinforcements arrive.

It's no secret that Matthews has struggled to start the season, at least compared to his lofty standards, as he notched 9 goals and 14 points in his first 17 contests. Nevertheless, the former MVP had been picking up steam before the injury as he notched 4 goals and 2 assists in his previous 5 games.

They'll have to make due without the 28-year-old sniper for at least one more game, but based on Berube's update, there's a good chance he could return in time for Saturday's contest against Montreal.