Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews will return to action Saturday against the Boston Bruins, he confirmed to TSN's Mark Masters.

Matthews has missed two games due to an undisclosed injury. The Maple Leafs defeated the Nashville Predators and lost to the Detroit Red Wings without him in the lineup.

The 25-year-old has 20 goals and 47 points in 41 games this season after winning the 2022 Hart Trophy.

Maple Leafs forwards Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann missed the team's morning skate due to illness and aren't expected to play against Boston, according to the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher is out for a minimum of six weeks due to a lower-body injury, the team announced Wednesday.

Gallagher received a timeline of two weeks on Friday.

The 30-year-old has been limited to 25 games this season by various injuries. He's tallied four goals and nine points while playing 14:12 per game, the lowest average time on ice of his career since his rookie campaign.

The Canadiens are last in the Atlantic Division with a 16-22-3 record. Montreal faces the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

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The NHL named the bench bosses for the 2023 All-Star Weekend in Florida on Wednesday.

The head coach of each division's leading team in points percentage through Jan. 11 gets the nod to guide the respective All-Star rosters: Jim Montgomery of the Atlantic Division's Boston Bruins, Rod Brind'Amour of the Metropolitan Division's Carolina Hurricanes, Peter DeBoer of the Central Division's Dallas Stars, and Bruce Cassidy of the Pacific Division's Vegas Golden Knights.

Montgomery's led the Bruins to an NHL-best 32-4-4 record. The 53-year-old is in his first season as Boston's coach after two seasons as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues. It's his first time coaching at the All-Star Game.

Brind'Amour will be behind the Metropolitan Division bench for the second consecutive season. His Hurricanes have a 25-9-7 record, thanks in large part to a franchise-record 11-game win streak that was snapped on Jan. 4.

DeBoer is the most experienced All-Star coach of the group, heading to his third All-Star Weekend with a third different team. He went as a member of the San Jose Sharks in 2017 and the Golden Knights in 2022. DeBoer's Stars have impressed with a 25-11-6 record, tied for the Western Conference lead in points.

Cassidy makes his second All-Star appearance after featuring on the Atlantic Division's bench in 2020 as coach of the Bruins. The Golden Knights have had a resurgent season under Cassidy, boasting the most wins in the Western Conference with a 27-13-3 record.

All-Star Weekend is set for Feb. 3-4.

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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe announced star Auston Matthews will miss his first game of the season Wednesday against the Nashville Predators, according to TSN's Mark Masters.

Matthews is dealing with an undisclosed injury. He participated in the optional skate Wednesday morning after not practicing Tuesday.

Keefe said that Matthews' ailment has "been bothering him for a while," according to SI Media Group's David Alter.

The 25-year-old has 20 goals and 47 points in 41 games this season.

William Nylander is expected to play center and Pierre Engvall is set to join the Maple Leafs' top six in Matthews' absence based on yesterday's lines at practice, per the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan. Bobby McMann is anticipated to make his NHL debut.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs placed defenseman T.J. Brodie on injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.

Brodie didn't play in Toronto's 6-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday due to an undisclosed ailment. He will miss at least three more games. The 32-year-old was already unavailable for 12 contests this season due to an oblique injury.

The Maple Leafs have had a rotating cast of blue-liners thanks to various injuries with Morgan Rielly, Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin, and Jordie Benn all missing time, along with Jake Muzzin and Victor Mete, who remain out.

Brodie has two goals and eight points in 28 games this season.

Toronto subsequently recalled forward Bobby McMann from the AHL. The 26-year-old left winger captured AHL Player of the Week honors after scoring three goals and six points in three contests. He's yet to make his NHL debut.

The Maple Leafs are second in the Atlantic Division with a 25-9-7 record. Toronto is back in action against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.

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Tyler Bertuzzi is expected to return to the Detroit Red Wings' lineup Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets, head coach Derek Lalonde confirmed Monday.

The forward has missed 16 games after sustaining a left hand injury on Nov. 30 that required surgery. He injured his right hand earlier in the season, forcing him to miss nine games in October.

The 27-year-old practiced Monday on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, according to The Athletic's Max Bultman.

Bertuzzi's played just nine contests this campaign, tallying one goal and four points. He's coming off a career year in 2021-22 in which he scored 30 goals and 62 points in 68 games.

The Red Wings are sixth in the Atlantic Division with a 16-15-7 record and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

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The Winnipeg Jets are getting quite a few reinforcements for Friday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Forwards Nikolaj Ehlers, Blake Wheeler, and Cole Perfetti plus defenseman Nate Schmidt are all returning to the Jets' lineup after stints on the sidelines.

Ehlers has missed 36 games after undergoing sports hernia surgery in November. The 26-year-old tallied three assists in the first two games of the season before being injured. He tallied 28 goals and 55 points across 62 contests in 2021-22.

Wheeler underwent groin surgery in December after blocking a shot against the Nashville Predators. The former Jets captain accrued nine goals and 26 points prior to suffering the injury. He has missed the last nine games.

Schmidt has also missed nine games. The 31-year-old has registered three goals and six points while playing less than 20 minutes per contest for the first time since 2016-17. Schmidt was injured on a hit from Nashville's Tanner Jeannot.

Perfetti has been a pleasant addition to the lineup in his first full NHL season, tallying six goals and 20 points across 33 contests. The 21-year-old has been out for five games with an upper-body injury sustained against the Boston Bruins.

The Jets are second in the Central Division with a 24-13-1 record.

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The Montreal Canadiens announced a pair of absences due to lower-body injuries Friday.

Defenseman Kaiden Guhle will miss at least eight weeks, while veteran forward Brendan Gallagher is out two weeks.

Guhle has been a bright spot for the struggling Canadiens. The 20-year-old has tallied 14 points in 36 games to lead Montreal defensemen in scoring. His 20:46 average time on ice ranks third among rookie blue-liners.

Guhle has already missed three games, last playing against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 29. He appeared to be injured after an awkward collision with Aleksander Barkov.

Gallagher has been limited to 25 games this season due to various injury issues. The 30-year-old has tallied just four goals and nine points while playing 14:12, the fewest minutes he's played since his rookie campaign. Gallagher did not play in Thursday's loss to the New York Rangers.

The Canadiens are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and are last in the Atlantic Division. They're back in action against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.

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Max Pacioretty is set to make his Carolina Hurricanes debut Thursday against the Nashville Predators.

The 34-year-old forward sustained a torn Achilles in August, an injury that has kept him out of all 38 games this season. He was limited to 39 games in 2021-22 due to a broken foot and broken wrist but managed to tally 19 goals and 37 points when he was in the Vegas Golden Knights' lineup.

Vegas traded Pacioretty and his $7-million cap hit to the Hurricanes in July, along with defenseman Dylan Coghlan, for future considerations.

Carolina leads the Metropolitan Division with a 25-7-6 record. Its 11-game win streak was snapped Tuesday by the New York Rangers.

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The New York Rangers have signed forward Jimmy Vesey to a two-year contract extension, the team announced Wednesday.

The extension carries an $800,000 cap hit, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. Vesey was set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2022-23 campaign.

Vesey has tallied six goals and 12 points in 38 contests with the Rangers this season. The 29-year-old attended New York's training camp on a professional tryout before signing a one-year, league-minimum contract on Oct. 9.

A star at Harvard University, Vesey captured the 2016 Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate player. He became a coveted free agent when he elected not to sign with the Nashville Predators, who drafted him in the third round in 2012.

Vesey signed with the Rangers in 2016 to begin his NHL career, tallying 50 goals and 90 points over 240 games in his first stint with the team.

He struggled to find a consistent home after New York traded him in 2019; he spent time with the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils over the past three seasons.

Vesey has 78 goals and 147 points in 460 career NHL games.

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