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Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews returns to the lineup vs. Jets
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Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews returns to the lineup vs. Jets

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Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews returns to the lineup vs. Jets

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews joined his teammates for Thursday’s morning skate and returns to the lineup against the Winnipeg Jets.

“It was concerning, you never know what it could be,” Matthews said after the morning skate. “I hit a rough spot and it was pretty swollen for a few days. So I just tried to do what I could to reduce all that hassle, put my foot in my skate and get going again. It felt good to skate yesterday and I feel like I’ve been making good progress every day.”

Matthews missed Tuesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils due to a lower-body injury after blocking a shot against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. While Matthews returned and finished the game against the Red Wings after sustaining the injury, the injury must have flared up the next day and forced him to miss a game against his former head coach Sheldon Keefe.

Matthews played in 33 games this season and scored 15 goals and 12 assists for 27 points. The Leafs captain is averaging 20:49 of ice time per game, which is a slight increase from last season, and he is currently winning nearly 59% of his faceoffs, which is a career high.

With Matthews out of the lineup earlier this week, the Maple Leafs used a next-man-up mentality and played one of their most complete games of the season in their 4-0 win over the Devils. Toronto got contributions from the entire lineup, as they used their speed to establish a forecheck and put the Devils back on their heels, while Joseph Woll stole the show in the Maple Leafs’ crease.

William Nylander is on the ice early, before Leaf’s morning skate.

Toronto enters 2026 with an 18-15-6 and is four points behind the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference. They host the Jets, a team ranked last in the Western Conference with a 15-19-4 record, on Thursday night. It’s been a disappointing season in Winnipeg, largely due to injury.

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