Rookie Leafs star Mitch Marner out this weekend because of injury

Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Mitch Marner will miss at least two games after suffering an apparent right shoulder injury earlier in the week.

Head coach Mike Babcock said the 19-year-old forward will sit out Saturday night’s game against Ottawa and skip Sunday’s game against Carolina as well. Marner, who leads the team in scoring, was injured Wednesday night in a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“Because he can’t go today, that means for sure he won’t go (Sunday) so we’ll deal with him next week,” Babcock said Saturday morning.

That means the earliest Marner will return is Tuesday against the visiting Winnipeg Jets.

His absence leaves a big hole in the lineup for the Maple Leafs, who have stumbled in recent weeks. Marner, who leads the team with 48 points and also ranks first with 33 assists, is on pace to smash franchise rookie records in both categories.

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Marner has found a comfortable spot on a line with veterans James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak. Rookie Connor Brown was expected to fill Marner’s spot on Saturday against the Sens.

“He’s obviously a pretty important player for this team, but this is hockey (and) obviously injuries happen throughout the year and you’ve got to play through it,” said forward Auston Matthews, who’s second in team scoring with 46 points.

The Leafs have suffered few key injuries this season. Bozak (three games) and Morgan Rielly (six) are the only players of significance to sit out.

With Brown sliding into Marner’s spot, Babcock will reunite William Nylander with Matthews and Zach Hyman, a combination that delivered exciting results early this season.

“I like to spread those guys out a little bit,” Babcock said of Matthews and Nylander, both ranked among the top five rookie scorers in the NHL this season. “Now in saying that, I’m pretty sure (William) would like to play with (Matthews) so here’s your opportunity, how long you get to do (it) is up to you.”

Nylander and van Riemsdyk were both benched briefly in the loss to Columbus, the 27-year-old American winger totalling less than 13 minutes while being held without a point for the fifth time in six games.

“You want to be productive especially at times when we’re not picking up as many points as a team collectively in the standings,” van Riemsdyk said after practice Friday. “You want to find ways to help out more, contribute more so certainly as an offensive guy you want to be scoring and helping the team win games.”

The Leafs have received an unlikely boost recently from 23-year-old Josh Leivo, who mustered five points in two games this week, including a career-high three points in a 7-1 win over New York. Leivo had been scratched a number of times before getting a chance to play when Nikita Soshnikov was sidelined by injury.

Soshnikov will return to the lineup on the fourth line with Marner out. Leivo will remain alongside Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov.

The Leafs have won one of three meetings with the Senators so far this season — a 4-2 victory in mid-January — and trail their Ontario rival by three points in the standings. Toronto enters Saturday’s action with control of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Jonas Siegel, The Canadian Press