Leafs’ Keefe on Matthews for Game 7: ‘We’ll see what the day brings’

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Don’t go inserting Auston Matthews into the Maple Leafs’ lineup for Game 7 just yet. 

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After the Leafs’ top centre took part in the morning skate at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday, coach Sheldon Keefe wouldn’t confirm that Matthews will play for the first time in the series since Game 4, when Matthews departed after the second period. 

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“He is progressing, (but) no determination on his status for tonight,” Keefe told media in Boston. “We will see what the day brings. We’ve got all our forwards that have been in playing in this series preparing to play. We’ve got some decisions to make with some other guys. 

“If (Matthews) is available, you’re going to use him, but as of right now, we’re proceeding as we have been.”

Keefe said that winger Bobby McMann, on the sideline since April 13 when he suffered a lower-body injury against the Detroit Red Wings, continued to progress but will not play. McMann also was on the ice on Saturday.

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The reason given by the Leafs for Matthews’ original absences from practices and morning skates was illness, but the belief for several days now has been that he is dealing with an injury.

The Leafs have managed fine without Matthews, winning Games 5 and 6 to force the win-or-go-home match on Saturday after trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

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“We’ve been through this twice,” Keefe said. “We’re playing for our lives.

“We’re where we want to be now, given where we were. You’re proud of the group for the work they have done, how resilient they have been to get here.”

The winner of Game 7 will fly to Florida on Sunday to meet the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, with Game 1 set for Monday night in Sunrise.

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“Everything is desperation,” Leafs winger Mitch Marner said. “You know what’s on the line. You don’t want to go home early. We’ve done a good job of staying in the moment and forgetting about the past.

“(Matthews) wants to be out there. He’s a hell of a competitor. We’ll see.”

The series loser will have several months to digest what went wrong. If the Bruins lose, they will be haunted by failing in the first round for the second year in a row when they were the favourite. Memories of the 3-1 lead against Florida a year ago that evaporated remained fresh.

If the Leafs lose, you would think there would have to be some consideration on the part of general manager Brad Treliving that his team made it to Game 7 despite some factors working against it. 

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Take a player of the calibre of Matthews or William Nylander out of any team’s lineup: That team’s chances of winning a series get smaller.

Keep in mind how tight this series has been at five-on-five.

Can we assume that had the Leafs had Matthews and Nylander in uniform for every game that they would have won it by now? We’ll never know, but it’s not a stretch to suggest that one or both would have made that difference before a Game 7 was required.

Will that factor into Treliving’s thinking when he makes a decision on the future of Keefe? And what about president Brendan Shanahan? If the Leafs lose, he will remain stuck on one playoff series win in 10 years on the job. Will new MLSE boss Keith Pelley need to be convinced that Shanahan should be retained?

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In the Bruins room, coach Jim Montgomery’s message to his group was straightforward.

“We’re a 109-point team (during the regular season) for a reason,” Montgomery said to media in Boston.” Go out and enjoy the moment. These are moments when you were a kid, that you wanted to be put in those situations. And now it’s incumbent upon you to embrace it.”

How do the Bruins go about doing that?

“Who is going to make one more play?” Montgomery said. “You have to be more determined. You have to win one more battle. You got to get to the net front. You have to get the puck out at the blue line. It’s what it comes down to tonight. You look at the entirety of the series, there is very little separating the two teams, five-on-five. 

“Special teams there has been a little bit of a difference, but they have drawn more special teams than us in the last couple of games. They have created more odd-man rushes than us in the last couple of games. Those are areas we need to be better in. Draw more penalties, get more odd-man rushes.”

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