Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews left his team’s 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden Tuesday night with a lower-body injury.
Matthews, who did not play in the third period, took a hit into the sideboards from behind by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov midway through the second period. Though Zadorov took a roughing call in the third period, he was not penalized for the hit on Matthews.
“I think it’s a penalty, personally,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “But I’m not the referee. I don’t like it. I don’t like the hit. He was in a vulnerable position.”
Berube did not have an update on Matthews, who has nine goals and 14 points this season, after the loss.
“I don’t know exactly,” he said. “I can’t give you a timeline or how serious it is right now. I’m not sure when he hurt it, to be honest with you.”
Anthony Stolarz started in goal for Toronto and gave up three first-period goals on 11 shots and was replaced for the second period by Dennis Hildeby, who had 19 stops. The team said Stolarz has an upper-body injury, but Berube didn’t believe it to be “serious.” Berube added, “I think he’ll be fine.”
All told, it was a night to forget for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three in a row. Steven Lorentz, Bobby McMann and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for Toronto, which was swept in a quick two-game home-and-home set with Boston.
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The news was much better for the home team. David Pastrnak scored twice to move past 400 goals for his career, and added an assist, as the rebuilding Bruins won their seventh consecutive game.
Pavel Zacha, Hampus Lindholm and Alex Steeves also scored for the Bruins while Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves. Charlie McAvoy had a pair of assists in the win.
Pastrnak’s goal 49 seconds into the second period was the 400th of his career and gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead. He added a power-play goal at 9:48 of the third. He is the sixth player to score 400 or more goals in a Bruins jersey, and is now one goal behind fifth-place Rick Middleton.
Steeves’ goal was his first as a Bruin after four years in the Toronto organization.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
