Leafs address Auston Matthews' status for Game 7 in Boston

Auston Matthews returned to the ice with his Maple Leafs teammates on Saturday. Here's what we know about his status for Game 7 in Boston tonight.

Whether it was an illness that kept him out of action or an injury, like the knee injury that has been heavily speculated on this week, Matthews appeared to be moving extremely well on the ice at Saturday's morning skate ahead of Game 7, taking part in every single drill with his teammates.

After missing part of Game 4, all of Game 5 and all of Game 6, Matthews appears poised to re-join the Maple Leafs for Game 7 with a chance to exorcise some old playoff demons and beat the Boston Bruins in the playoffs for the first time since 1959.




Matthews did not remain on the ice with the scratches for extra work following the team's main skate, which is a pretty good indicator that he'll play tonight.

It's also interesting to note that the Leafs dressed all forwards in the same white jerseys, so there's no way to identify who is playing and who is not, based on the colour of their sweater at practice. Blue is typically reserved for the top six, white is used to mark the bottom six and grey tarps are used to identify the team's scratches. It looks like the Leafs are playing some mind games of their own.



After the skate, Sheldon Keefe had little to offer in the way of an actual update on Matthews, simply stating that no determination has been made yet on whether or not he'll play. However, judging by what we saw today, it appears to be more likely than not that he's ready to go.

We'll provide an update on Matthews' status as soon as one becomes available.