TORONTO -- Auston Matthews was placed on injured reserve Friday retroactive to Nov. 11, and and could be out one week because of a lower-body injury.
The Maple Leafs captain will miss his second straight game against the Chicago Blackahwks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CHSN, SNP, SNO, CBC). He was injured in a 5-3 loss at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday; coach Craig Berube said the injury did not occur when Matthews was hit by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov along the boards at 8:30 of the second period, even though he exited the game 30 seconds later.
"I'm hoping a week maybe but maybe sooner," Berube said prior to a 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. "But we will just see. It's one of those things he could come [back] in a couple days from now and be feeling a lot better, and hopefully he is good to go but we will see. It could be as long as a week."
Berube added that it was a new injury and that Matthews had not been dealing with any nagging issues prior to the game.
Matthews has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in 17 games this season. He had not missed a game this season after missing 15 last year because of an upper-body injury.
Toronto is 45-24-3 all time without Matthews in the lineup, including 10-5-0 last season.
"We played last year without him for a while," Berube said. "It's a next-man-up mentality. Guys get a bigger bite here, a bigger role. [We'll need] a better team game."
John Tavares was elevated to Matthews’ place on a line with forwards Matthew Knies and William Nylander in the overtime loss to the Kings. Tavares scored two goals and played 21:59.
"I don't really try to change a whole lot. I try to be really good all over the ice and make sure the process to my game is really strong playing with and without the puck and naturally try to make an impact, help the team and build chemistry with my linemates," Tavares said. "In general, the way I try to prepare and take care of myself I think, I don't know if it needs to be emphasized, but that's when things like this happen or you're playing a little bit more or you're playing four games in six days, you are in a better position to handle the workload."
Max Domi, who replaced Tavares on a line with forwards Nicholas Robertson and Bobby McMann, took Matthews’ place on the top power-play unit with Tavares, Knies, Nylander, and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
"He's an amazing playmaker," Nylander said of Domi. “He can thread the needle, so it will be a lot of fun to have him out there (on the power play)."
Goalie Joseph Woll was activated to the roster on Friday and could start Saturday; he had been with Toronto of the American Hockey League on a conditioning assignment since last week after leaving the team in training camp due to a personal matter. Anthony Stolarz was placed on injured reserve Saturday retroactive to Nov. 11 when he sustained an upper-body injury against the Bruins.
Forward Easton Cowan was also recalled from Toronto of the AHL on Friday, but is not expected to play. He has four points (one goal, three assists) in 10 games with the Maple Leafs this season.
Although Toronto (8-8-2) is third in the NHL in goals with 65, it is tied for last in goals against at 69. Without Matthews, Nylander said the key is not to look to replace his offensive production but to improve defensively.
"I think that defensively we have been struggling, and that is something that can be fixed and you can adjust and make changes to be better at that, better attention to details," Nylander said. "I would be more worried if we weren't scoring goals, because that's harder to do. Not letting in goals has been hard for us this year and that's something we can change and adjust and do better at."
