Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews out with minor injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have dodged a bullet when it comes to the state of their captain.

Toronto head coach Craig Berube announced ahead of Thursday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings that star centre Auston Matthews will be out of the lineup “maybe a week, maybe sooner” with a lower-body injury.

The injury is not considered serious, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Thursday.

Matthews left Tuesday’s 5-4 road loss to the Boston Bruins in the second period. The Leafs captain took a hit from behind from Nikita Zadorov and then went back at the hulking defenceman moments later in what would be his final shift of the night, but Berube said the injury occurred earlier in the game.

Matthews finished the game with 10:51 of ice time and one hit.

“It was just a normal play. I didn’t even really hit him,” Zadorov told reporters in Boston after the game. “I’m not even sure which hit he got hurt (on), either when he went after me again, I kind of hit him. Or maybe when I cleared the puck, I hit him with the puck.

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“There wasn’t really any intention to hurt him. I play hard against top players — that’s my job.”

Still viewed as a Stanley Cup contender at the start of the schedule despite the loss of star winger Mitch Marner over the summer, the Leafs sit 8-8-1 heading into Thursday. They are seventh in the Atlantic Division, 15th in the Eastern Conference and 27th in the overall standings after three straight regulation losses.

The 28-year-old Matthews, who has 14 points in 2025-26, scored a career-high 69 times in 2023-24, but was limited to 33 goals in 67 games last season as he dealt with a persistent upper-body injury.

— With files from the Canadian Press