Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews still feeling effects of illness - ESPN

TORONTO — Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews is still feeling the effects of an illness that forced him from the third period of Toronto's 3-1 loss in Game 4 of Toronto's first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Bruins on Saturday.

Matthews had played through the sickness in Game 3 — which the Leafs also lost, 4-2 — and battled again in Game 4 until Toronto's team doctors pulled him out of action for the final frame. The Leafs now face elimination from the postseason in Game 5 on Tuesday and there's no guarantee Matthews will be well enough to dress for the crucial contest.

«We thought the last couple of days would help us,» said coach Sheldon Keefe after Toronto's team meeting on Sunday. «But, for whatever reason, it's not one of those run-of-the-mill type of illnesses that sort of comes and goes. This one has lingered, and the effects have lingered and gotten worse when he's got on the ice and is asserting himself.»

Keefe hoped the extra day of recovery on Sunday would help Matthews feel stronger on the ice by Tuesday. The Leafs already face an uphill battle to stay alive in the playoffs after an emotional defeat on Saturday that included a bench argument gone viral between Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

The Leafs were trailing 3-0 in the second period when cameras captured the team's three top forwards exchanging heated words, right before they were booed off the ice at intermission by the hometown crowd.

On the outside that scene looked like a sign of turmoil, but Keefe saw passion behind his players' words as a positive signal.

«In the past, quite honestly, that wouldn't have happened, guys wouldn't have talked it out, wouldn't have, if you want to call it 'arguing' it out,» he said. «That