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If the Toronto Maple Leafs are to force a deciding Game 7 in their first round series with the Boston Bruins on Saturday, they will have to do it without leading scorer Auston Matthews, as the NHL’s leading scorer did not participate in the club’s morning skate and was ruled out by head coach Sheldon Keefe prior to Game 6 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
Matthews skated with injured forward Bobby McMann before the main group for nearly 30 minutes, but there was no indication from the club whether the three-time Rocket Richard winner is improving or may play if the series is extended with a victory in Game 6.
The Leafs staved off elimination on Tuesday with a 2-1 overtime victory in Boston on a Matthew Knies goal, getting off the mat after a weak and ineffective performance in Game 4, putting forth a solid road effort with the excellent goaltending of Joseph Woll, but Toronto must clear a hurdle just as difficult as the absence of Matthews, and that is to snap their lengthy losing skid on home ice.
The Leafs have lost six straight games at Scotiabank Arena. Game 5 of the first round series against Tampa Bay last April, Games 1, 2, and 5 against Florida, and Games 3 and 4 against the Bruins, and to snap that string of ineptitude, they must continue what they did on the road and adapt it to their approach at home.
"I thought we had a pretty clear picture that come in coming back from the road after Game 2 and we didn't execute that on the ice.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Thursday morning. “That's the biggest piece for us since it's just coming out with the same mindset that we brought to the road."
Toronto will have to build off of a game where they were disciplined enough to take only one minor penalty, while playing with more intensity and physicality throughout the lineup. The Bruins will not have forward Danton Heinen in the lineup, but defenseman Brandon Carlo, who left in the third period and did not return for overtime on Tuesday, took part in Boston’s morning skate. Jeremy Swayman, who suffered his first postseason loss since Game 7 against Florida last April, will make the start.
Toronto Maple Leafs 2023 first-round pick Easton Cowan capped of an incredible season on Thursday by being named the Red Tilson Memorial Trophy as the OHL’s Most Valuable Player.
The 18-year-old winger was selected 28th overall last June in Nashville after a strong performance for the London Knights in the OHL Playoffs and this season nearly doubled his offensive output, scoring 96 points (34 goals, 62 assists) in 54 games and a 36-game point streak. Cowan is the first Knights player to win the award since Mitch Marner did in 2016.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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