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After a rest day on Monday, Auston Matthews stepped onto the ice before the Toronto Maple Leafs' optional morning skate ahead of Game 5 against the Ottawa Senators.
The 27-year-old skated for about 25 minutes on Tuesday morning, doing skating and shooting drills alongside Max Domi. Matthews looked ready to go and was smiling throughout the session.
"I think everybody’s grinding right now. It’s that point in the season of hard, physical hockey, going through different things, so it’s nothing that’s abnormal," Matthews said of his health in the series.
"Everybody’s grinding and playing hard right now, so it’s not really something that’s, I don’t know, it’s not a big deal."
Following practice on Tuesday, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said he speaks with players throughout the series to gauge their health and whether they need time off the ice.
Clearly, he did that with Matthews, but how did the forward decide to remain off the ice?
"I just listen to the body," Matthews said, "and sometimes you just feel like you need a little bit of a rest or time off the ice. I think it’s not a big deal."
Matthews worked through an injury during training camp and took most of November off to deal with it. That time off included a trip to Munich, Germany, where he received treatment from a doctor whom he's visited before.
How does Berube think Matthews is doing after getting rest before Game 5?
"Rested," he grinned.
'I Certainly Didn't Mean To Do That': Maple Leafs' Max Domi Reflects On Penalty Leading To Senators's Game 4 Power Play Goal It took the Ottawa Senators one minute and four seconds to score on the first power play of Game 4 on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Since returning to the lineup at the end of November, Matthews has scored 67 points — 28 goals and 39 assists — in 54 games. Toronto's captain has tallied a goal and five assists through four games in the playoffs.
His line, with Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, has scored four goals at five-on-five and is yet to allow one against the Senators in the series.
"I think that’s an important part of our job. We do get a good number of defensive zone starts and stuff like that and try to be responsible in our own end, and transitioning that into o-zone," Matthews said.
"I think it’s just playing patient. It’s not always going to be a lot going on throughout the games, try to stay patient, and continue to try to just get an edge each shift or each period, and just roll over the momentum."
Toronto will try eliminating the Senators at home with the same lineup they used in Game 4. Max Pacioretty remains in, and Nick Robertson will be a healthy scratch for the third straight game.
Anthony Stolarz will start for the Maple Leafs. He's won three games with a .902 save percentage in the series. Joseph Woll participated in the optional skate after missing Tuesday's practice due to being under the weather.
‘I Didn’t Even Notice, To Be Honest’: Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz Downplays Nick Cousins Warmup Incident After Game 4 Loss To Senators Though the warmup shenanigans ahead of Game 3 in the Battle of Ontario led to disciplinary fines, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz says he didn’t even notice the sideshow despite being at the center of it.
Although Stolarz's save percentage has dropped after Games 3 and 4, Berube has not seen enough to warrant a switch in the position.
"I don't think there's any reason to change [the goaltender] right now," he said on Tuesday morning.
Toronto has won both games at home against Ottawa in the series and is looking to end Tuesday with a win in front of their fans. If they can defeat the Senators in Game 5, it'll be the first time they've won a playoff series at home since 2004, against Ottawa.
"The first two games here, at the start of the series, the atmosphere was incredible. The fans were great and a lot of fun to play in that atmosphere," Matthews said.
"I expect it to be even louder and rowdier tonight."
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