Matthews good to go as Leafs look to salvage road trip

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Maple Leafs held a media availability at Capital One Arena on Sunday afternoon, ahead of tonight's game against the Washington Capitals.

Toronto Maple Leafs star centre Auston Matthews will remain in the lineup on Sunday night as the Leafs wrap up a road trip against the Washington Capitals. 

"Auston is feeling good today," coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed. "He got through yesterday feeling good so he's going to go again tonight."

In his return from a week-long absence, Matthews played 21 minutes and 40 seconds against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night and fired a team high seven shots on net. 

"He looked great," said linemate Mitchell Marner. "He was making a lot of great plays out there. He had a lot of great opportunities. I thought he was buzzing throughout the whole night." 

Matthews missed the previous three games with an undisclosed injury.

"It's obviously not the best time of year to be dealing with something like that," noted defenceman Justin Holl, "but I'm sure he'll be OK. He looked great last night."

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joins SportsCentre to discuss Auston Matthews' return to the ice after an undisclosed injury. Johnson comments on how Matthews played in his return and how beneficial this is for the Leafs as they get set to enter the playoffs.

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Maple Leafs captain John Tavares will miss Sunday's game for load management. 

"It's an opportunity for us to give him a breather here," Keefe explained. "We just talked about the fact that Auston, through his injury, had a break and had some time away, but John hasn't really had that all season. We're right in the heart of one of our busiest stretches so he won't play tonight."

Tavares has only missed one