Matthews out Thursday, still no timeline for return

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury Thursday against the New York Islanders, head coach Craig Berube announced Wednesday, per The Athletic's Jonas Siegel.

While Matthews says the injury that's bothered him since training camp is feeling better, there's still no timeline for his return. The 27-year-old added that he's not positive he'll be able to shake the injury this season.

"I don't know. I hope so," Matthews said. "That's obviously the goal. It's tricky with these things sometimes. It's a physical sport, it's a contact sport, so things happen out there sometimes that are out of your control. So I'm just trying to manage it as best as I can, and we can, and you just go from there."

Matthews missed nine straight games earlier in the campaign with the same upper-body injury and sought treatment from a specialist in Germany. He re-aggravated the issue Dec. 20 against the Buffalo Sabres when Dennis Gilbert cross-checked him.

The Maple Leafs are 9-5-0 without Matthews in the lineup this season.

Matthews, a three-time Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner, hasn't produced up to his standards when healthy this year, managing 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 games. His 10.9% shooting percentage stands to be the lowest of his career.