Toronto Maple Leafs' biggest star conspicuously absent from practice ahead of huge game

The Toronto Maple Leafs were without their biggest star at Monday morning's practice.

Though the Leafs are officially citing "rest" as the reason for his absence, Auston Matthews raised a few eyebrows by sitting out of the team's skate one day ahead of Tuesday’s Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena.

Matthews' absence does at least raise a few preliminary questions about whether he's operating at full health, or perhaps dealing with a lingering issue.

Given that the Leafs took Sunday off following a 4-3 overtime loss on Saturday to give the Ottawa Senators their first win of the series, it is a bit curious that Matthews needs a rest day.

With NHL teams being notoriously tight-lipped about player health status, particularly in the playoffs, we likely won't get a good answer as to what exactly is going on with Toronto's captain.

Matthews has one goal and four assists in four games so far for the Leafs.

A year removed from a franchise-record setting 69-goal campaign, it was a down year offensively for Matthews, who put up 33 goals and 45 assists in 67 games this year for the team, missing two different stretches for an upper-body injury in November through January.

Outside of Matthews taking the day off, Toronto's lines remain largely unchanged from what they've used since Game 3, as per The Hockey News' David Alter:

• Matthew Knies-David Kampf*-Mitch Marner
• Pontus Holmberg-John Tavares-William Nylander
• Max Pacioretty-Max Domi–Bobby McMann
• Steven Lorentz-Scott Laughton-Calle Jarnkrok

*Kampf is slotting in Matthews' spot, though he's projected to play tomorrow.

On the backend, they'll be running the following pairs:

• Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev
• Morgan Rielly – Brandon Carlo
• Simon Benoit – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

With Toronto up three games to one in the series, they'll have a chance of ending it Tuesday night on home ice. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EDT at Scotiabank Arena, with the game broadcast nationally on CBC and Sportsnet.