TORONTO – Add injury to insult.
Not only did the Florida Panthers walk into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rink this week and steal two road games to seize a 2-0 series lead, but exciting rookie forward Matthew Knies is likely done of the series.
Knies, 20, has been diagnosed with a concussion since getting taken down hard and headfirst to the ice by Panthers forward Sam Bennett during a tussle in the first period of Game 2.
The left winger has been ruled out for games 3 (Sunday) and 4 (Wednesday) in Sunrise, Fla., and should be considered day-to-day beyond that.
“I’d say unlikely to return to the series. We’ll give him some time to recover and see how that goes,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday.
“Matthew has proven to improve the depth of our team, and we believe we’re a better team when he’s in. All that said, we were a very good team before he arrived on scene here. So, we’ll make some adjustments according, but we’ve got full confidence in our group.”
Bennett was not penalized on the play, nor did he receive supplementary discipline from the NHL’s player safety department for the play.
Fresh out of the NCAA and into critical playoff games for the Maple Leafs, Knies has fast become a fan favourite. Starting in the bottom six, his playmaking ability and fearlessness along the walls helped him earn the trust of his teammates and Toronto’s coaching staff.
He was on the ice for all three of Toronto’s overtime wins in the club’s first-round victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and scored his first NHL goal Tuesday off a feed from Auston Matthews.
Knies has one goal and three assists through seven playoff games.
With the winger unavailable, the Maple Leafs could simply pop Zach Aston-Reese back into their lineup as the next forward up.
They may also introduce defencemen Justin Holl and/or Erik Gustafsson to the series. Both were scratched in games 1 and 2.
Keefe is entertaining the option of deploying 11 forwards and seven defencemen for Game 3 — a format the Leafs’ used in last Saturday’s series-clinching win over the Lightning.
“It’s always on the table for us,” Keefe said.
Bennett was involved in a second controversial play Thursday, when he cross-checked Michael Bunting in the neck, then again in the back.
Bennett was assessed a minor penalty on that play, plus a $5,000 fine from player safety for his actions.
Keefe said the cross-check was “eerily similar” to the one Matthews delivered on Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin in the 2022 Heritage Classic and earned the star a two-game suspension.
“I didn’t see the outdoor game. I know that’ll shock you, that you wouldn’t all be focused on the Leafs games. I had a pre-scout for the pesky Florida Panthers. So, I can’t comment on that,” Florida coach Paul Maurice responded. “Everybody seemed to survive that.
“The tangle up behind the net (with Knies and Bennett), I think we’ve been on the other side of the ledger enough.”
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