Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock has consistently used the term "over-ready" when discussing when Matthews might return. It is clear the Maple Leafs, who trail the Boston Bruins by seven points for second in the Atlantic Division and hold a 12-point lead on the fourth-place Florida Panthers, will not rush Matthews back.
"He's coming every day, I could just tell by the amount of physical contact he was in today compared versus yesterday," Babcock said. "So he's going in the right direction, feeling good and he'll be over-ready before he gets in."
Matthews won't play against the Dallas Stars at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, FS-SW, NHL.TV) and will likely miss the game at the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. He was injured by a hit from New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech and forward Cal Clutterbuck with 1:06 remaining in the third period of a 4-3 shootout win.
"Pain in my shoulder, that's about it," Matthews said when asked what he felt after getting hit. "I think just because it was contact from both sides. It's tough to brace yourself from both sides, so it was just kind of a fluky play. It's unfortunate but it happens."
Matthews skated on his own last Wednesday and Friday and joined the main practice before departing midway through without taking line rushes. He took line rushes Monday and Tuesday.
"I'm feeling fine," Matthews said. "Getting better, felt better every day. It's nice to get on the ice with the guys and kind of take reps in that kind of circumstance instead of just skating by yourself so you get your timing back, which is a big key in returning to play."
The Maple Leafs are 8-6-2 without Matthews, who missed four games from Nov. 8 to Nov. 16 with an upper-body injury and six games from Dec. 10 to Dec. 20 with a concussion before injuring his shoulder.
"It's obviously frustrating so there's no question about that," Matthews said. "Everything happens for a reason, I guess, so you just kind of have to stick with it and do your best to get back, get healthy and been doing a good job to stay in shape with my conditioning and working with the trainers as far as rehab goes."
