The Toronto Maple Leafs released an injury update on former captain John Tavares, days after Auston Matthews returned to action for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Squaring off with nearly identical records entering Wednesday’s contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs were presented with a key opportunity to get out of a rut against a quality Minnesota Wild team, with a four-game road trip on the horizon before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Following a well-attended Tuesday morning practice in Toronto, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube provided an exciting update on John Tavares and Matthew Knies.

Matthews and Nylander both scored two goals as Toronto battled back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits in the third period to beat New Jersey 4-3.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube details how the team plans to move forward without the injured John Tavares.

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews wasn't particularly happy with what he thought was the lack of excitement from the fans.

Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares is set to miss some time. The club announced Thursday the veteran centre has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body issue. Tavares went down awkwardly during a drill at practice Wednesday. The 34-year-old has 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points across 44 games this season.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube addressed the team’s challenge without their veteran leader ahead of their victory over the Devils. “We’re going to miss everything,” Berube said. “His production, his leadership, his all-situations play. It’s unfortunate — just bad luck in practice. But we have to move on.”

Slugging from behind the entire evening, and balanced on the usual mid-season fan revolt, the Toronto Maple Leafs won their first game in more than a week on Thursday. William Nylander scored the overtime goal that put away the New Jersey Devils, led by former Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.

The New Jersey Devils invested a lot to make sure their goaltending situation was stable in 2024-25. They acquired Jacob Markstrom fro the Calgary Flames in a blockbuster trade, but now New Jersey will be without its starting goaltender for several weeks.

As Bissonnette explained on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs should pursue the signing of new Carolina Hurricanes forward Mikko Rantanen if he gets to free agency and Toronto lets Mitch Marner walk.

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.