Auston Matthews injured by Bruins prospect against Latvia

The Olympics are officially underway, and for Team USA, their first game is against Latvia, who have several NHL players on their roster.

Team USA named Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews the captain of their roster, but he already appears to have been banged up.

He took an elbow up high from Latvia's Dans Locmelis which went unpenalized, right before they tied the game at 1-1, adding to some early game frustration for Team USA.

Locmelis was taken by the Maple Leafs' divisional foe Boston Bruins with the 119th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

NHL analyst Frank Seravalli announced that Matthews, who was getting attention from a team trainer, appeared to be "in distress" on the USA bench.

In his first year wearing the captain's "C" on his sweater in 2024-25, Matthews missed several games because of an injury that eventually required him to travel overseas to Germany to seek treatment.

Many are concerned that Matthews' best goal scoring days are behind him and that a potential lingering injury could have hampered his offensive output.

So far this year with the Maple Leafs, Matthews has 48 points (26G, 22A) and is on pace for 37 goals in 73 games

Normally, scoring 37 goals is a very high output for most players, but Matthews, who is only two years removed from 69 goals, it's lower than what has been his career average.

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