Maple Leafs place Matthews on IR; Ekman-Larsson, Holmberg out Tuesday

A team spokesman said Matthews, who’s out with an upper-body injury, has not experienced any setbacks. The move was retroactive to Dec. 20, when Matthews last played against the Buffalo Sabres. 

“He skated yesterday and had a good skate,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said in a pre-game availability. “I was glad he was out there. It was good to see him out there with us in practice. 

“Really, we’ll go from there and see how he is progressing tomorrow and see if he’s out there practising again.”

Matthews has 11 goals and 12 assists over 24 games this season.

The Maple Leafs recalled defenceman Marshall Rifai from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. In addition, blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Pontus Homberg were unavailable for Tuesday’s game due to illness. 

Entering play Tuesday, the Maple Leafs (22-13-2) had dropped three of their last four games without Matthews in the lineup. 

Matthews won the Rocket Richard Trophy last season after scoring 69 goals. The first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft has 672 points (379-293) in 586 career regular-season games.

The Maple Leafs will play the back end of the home-and-home set against the Islanders on Thursday night.