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Slumping Leafs will be without Auston Matthews tonight

Vegas Golden Knights v Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 6: William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights skates against Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on November 6, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Golden Knights 4-3 in an overtime shoot-out. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

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After starting the season with wins in six of their seven games the Toronto Maple Leafs have hit a bit of a rut in recent weeks, winning just three of their past nine games heading into Wednesday’s home game against the Minnesota Wild.

Wednesday’s game will be a little bit more challenging due to the fact their best player, second-year superstar Auston Matthews, will be out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury.

He is currently listed as being day-to-day.

Matthews has been dealing with the injury for a couple of days now but managed to play on Monday night in Toronto’s 4-3 shootout win against Vegas. He recorded an assist in the win.

This will be the first game that Matthews has missed in his career due to injury.

After scoring 40 goals as a rookie Matthews has followed it up so far this season by recording 19 points (including 10 goals) in his first 16 games. As of Wednesday he is in the top-five in both goals and total points and is once again on a 40-goal pace.

After tonight the Maple Leafs play a home-and-home set with the Boston Bruins on Friday and Saturday before getting a four day break.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.