Keefe confirms Matthews will play in Leafs' season-finale
Published
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed that star forward Auston Matthews will play in Wednesday's season-finale, giving him one last shot at hitting 70 goals for the season.
"The reality is for me, the 70-goal thing aside, Auston is playing good and feeling good and if we had more guys to sit or rest he probably wouldn't even be at the top of the list. In terms of Auston, there was not really much of a discussion there," Keefe said.
Keefe was originally not definitive in Matthews' status for the season-finale playing after Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers.
The Maple Leafs are locked into their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff matchup with the Boston Bruins and cannot improve their standing with a win Wednesday.
Matthews got his 69th goal over the weekend but was held without No. 70 Tuesday evening. Matthews fired five shots on goal in 19:29 of ice time.
The 26-year-old centre from Arizona is aiming to become only the ninth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season. That exclusive club includes Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Mario Lemieux, Alexander Mogilny, Phil Esposito, Teemu Selanne, Jari Kurri and Bernie Nicholls.
Mogilny and Selane were the last two to accomplish the feat, coming in the 1992-93 season.