Leafs Captain Auston Matthews' Absence From Practice Amplifies Concerns After Recent Report

Placed on injured reserve November 8th with a mysterious upper-body injury, Auston Matthews has looked a little more like his old self since returning to the lineup.

Since returning, the 2016 first-overall pick has 11 points in 10 games, including five goals. While the lack of goal-scoring may be concerning for fans, head coach Craig Berube has liked Matthews' play since he returned.

At least until Thursday when Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander struggled at the start of the first and second periods, which had Berube feeling as though they were "a little bit off".

On Thursday's edition of 'Real Kyper and Bourne', Leafs reporter Joshua Kloke, Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne discussed the Leafs' victory over the Dallas Stars, which is when Kloke brought up Matthews' health, noting that the Arizona native looked rather slow on Sam Steel's early marker in the first period.

Now, with The Hockey News' David Alter reporting that Auston Matthews will miss practice on Friday, concerns are certainly becoming amplified.

Alter did mention that Matthews will dress tonight against Buffalo, but with Kloke's feelings on Matthews' overall health combined with Matthews missing practice on Friday, it's clear that he's still not at 100%.

With the Leafs entering a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday before entering the holidays with a game Monday, it will be interesting to see if Matthews' loss of pace is more to do with his body getting used to the grind of playing 3 games in four nights again or if it is, in fact, an injury flaring up on him.