Leafs rally around Matthews amid absence from lineup

How valuable is Auston Matthews to the Toronto Maple Leafs?

The superstar centre makes an impact when he’s not even in the lineup.

“When you have a guy who’s maybe a little bit banged up and he’s producing like that and he’s playing as well as that, it makes everybody else in the lineup follow suit,” Leafs forward Travis Boyd said Sunday. “Auston scores a ton of goals, but he also does a lot of little things that maybe go unnoticed — how good he is in the D zone, how strong he is on pucks or taking people off pucks.

“For a guy to be banged up and scoring goals, but still doing all those little things, it certainly makes everybody else in the lineup go out there and do those little things really well too.”

Matthews has been playing through an issue with his right wrist this season. It was aggravated in a victory last Wednesday against Calgary and he did not play in the Leafs’ 4-0 win in Edmonton on Saturday.

Despite his wrist problem, he leads the NHL with 18 goals in 20 games. And Matthews is tied with Patrick Kane of Chicago for fourth in NHL scoring with 31 points.

LINE NOTES

If he plays on Monday, we would assume that Nic Petan will remain out of the lineup.

Petan did not play on Saturday, but practised on the fourth line on Sunday, knocking Jimmy Vesey out of the top 12. In the event he does not play, scratching Vesey would not decrease the Leafs’ chances of winning.

We like what Petan has brought to the fourth line when he has played. Giving him another shot is fine.

John Tavares, meanwhile, remained on the top line in Matthews’ spot between Joe Thornton and Mitch Marner.