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"Fire the medical staff" - NHL fans react as Maple Leafs stress over Auston Matthews' availability for Capitals game
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews is questionable to play on Thursday due to an illness.
Matthews is a game-time decision on Thursday as the illness bug is going through the Maple Leafs locker room.
Following the news that Matthews is questionable to play, Maple Leafs fans weren't happy.
"Forget Keefe. Fire the Leafs medical staff."
"Might as well give him a game to rest, however, I think 70 is fading. Oh well, rest before the playoffs matters more."
"Hey Friedge, can somebody find out why the Maple Leafs from Toronto have gotten the flu 23 times this season?"
"At this point I’m willing to head down to Toronto and go on a vitamin run for the boys and host a seminar on proper hand washing. This is insane, I have never seen a group of pro athletes deal with illnesses so often."
The Maple Leafs have dealt with the flu around the team multiple times this season. But it is good that it is happening now instead of during the playoffs, which are just a couple of weeks away.
Toronto's Max Domi on Auston Matthews unavailability
The Toronto Maple Leafs (40-22-9) are currently in third place in the Atlantic Division but the Tampa Bay Lightning are just two points behind.
Toronto is on a two-game losing streak and will host the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.
"Of course, it's an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup," Max Domi said about Matthews, via NHL.com.
"When anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we've done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that."
Along with Matthews, the Maple Leafs will be without Morgan Reilly, who will miss his second straight game.
"He just remains day to day," Keefe said. "We're hopeful he's going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it's not going to be a lingering situation. It's not going to be an injury that's ongoing. Once he's past it, he's past it so we just need to give him some time."
Toronto is a -180 favorite to beat Washington on Thursday.
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