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.

Tavares sustained a lower-body injury last week and Craig Berube updated the status of several Maple Leafs players.

Does John Tavares get enough love from Toronto Maple Leafs fans? It would seem that Nick Kypreos doesn’t think so. During a recent Real Kyper and Bourne episode, hosts Kypreos and Justin Bourne discussed how much the Maple Leafs will miss their ex-captain.

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

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.

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.

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.

Morgan Rielly is used to contributing with the puck on his stick. The Maple Leafs defenceman had a career-high 68 points a couple of years back and chipped in another 58 last season as part of a well-oiled attack.

Nations, facing off. That is what will happen when the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off kicks off in mid-February, replacing the NHL All-Star Game. The tournament

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m., Scotiabank Arena TV: Sportsnet Radio: The Fan 590 Odds: Wild +119, Maple Leafs -147 The buzz After winning four in a row from Dec. 31 to Jan. 7, the Wild has lost six of its past nine games,