Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews To Miss Tuesday Night's Game Against The Ottawa Senators

With Shane Pinto returning to the lineup on Tuesday night, the Ottawa Senators are fully healthy again. Finally.

The Toronto Maple Leafs? Not so much.

The Leafs continue to navigate injuries to key players, including captain Auston Matthews. As the Senators and Leafs renew the Battle of Ontario (7 PM ET; RDS, TSN4, TSN5), Toronto will be without Matthews once again. The Leafs aren't sure exactly when he'll be back, but his absence hasn't hurt them yet. Without their captain, the Leafs have won three in a row and improved their power play, which has gone 7 for 13 so far in his absence.

Toronto will also be without Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok. Leafs forwards William Nylander and Max Domi will play after each missed practice on Monday for maintenance reasons.

It should be noted that, while Ottawa is now healthy with Pinto back in gear, they aren't totally at full strength. Their only absence now is veteran winger David Perron, but that's not due to injury. He's still tending to personal issues and has only been available for practice of late.

Pinto missed eight games with an undisclosed injury and reclaims his spot on the third line with Michael Amadio. Normally, they'd play with Perron, but Noah Gregor continues to fill in, playing higher in the lineup. Gregor has spent more time on the second and third lines this season than he has on the fourth line.

As he did for the entire game against Boston on Saturday, Josh Norris will centre Brady Tkachuk and Ridly Greig. Head coach Travis Green switched him with Tim Stutzle in the third period against the Islanders last week and obviously likes what he sees so far.

Defenceman Jacob Bernard-Docker will sit out again, much to the chagrin of many Sens fans on X/Twitter. Linus Ullmark will look to build off an emotional overtime victory in Boston and try to win two in a row for the first time this season.

Remarkably, there are only three Battle of Ontario games scheduled for this season. Who thought that was a good idea?

Tonight's probable lines, based on Monday's practice:

Tkachuk-Norris-Greig
Giroux-Stützle-Batherson
Gregor-Pinto-Amadio
Cousins-Gaudette-MacEwen

Sanderson-Zub
Chabot-Jensen
Kleven-Hamonic

Ullmark