Maple Leafs place captain Auston Matthews on injured reserve

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The Maple Leafs have put captain Auston Matthews on the shelf.

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The Leafs on Friday placed Matthews on injured reserve, a move that is retroactive to Nov. 3.

Matthews could return to the lineup as soon as Tuesday when the Leafs play host to the Ottawa Senators.

Matthews is dealing with an upper-body injury and had been listed as day to day. He will be out of the lineup at least three games. He didn’t play in the Leafs’ 4-0 win against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, missed the Hockey Hall of Fame game on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings and won’t play on Saturday when the Leafs play host to the Montreal Canadiens to finish a rare back-to-back set at home.

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In a corresponding move, the Leafs activated forward Connor Dewar from longterm injured reserve, ending Dewar’s conditioning loan with the Toronto Marlies. Dewar had been recovering from shoulder surgery that he underwent in the off-season. In one game with the Marlies, Dewar had a goal and an assist.

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When Leafs coach Craig Berube was asked about Matthews’ status after Toronto’s optional morning skate on Friday, he said Matthews was going “in the right direction (which) is good news.”

Matthews, though, did not skate on Friday and has not been on the ice since Sunday, when he played more than 22 minutes in the Leafs’ overtime loss in Minnesota against the Wild.

The Leafs haven’t had big problems when Matthews has been out of the lineup. In that scenario since Matthews’ first National Hockey League game in 2016, Toronto was 36-19-2 before playing Detroit on Friday.

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Matthews has five goals and six assists for 11 points in 13 games.

“I think it’s just a matter of of guys trying to take on more responsibility,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “You realize that you’re at a loss without him, and guys have to step up, and you have to pull more weight.

“The goal will always be to have that mentality when everyone’s healthy and playing, but when you lose a player, and an extremely important player like him, you need more out of everyone. When you’re able to achieve that, you’re able to come together as a team in a way.”

Defenceman Jani Hakanpaa remains with the Marlies on an LTIR conditioning loan as he completes his recovery from a knee injury.

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