ELMONT, N.Y. — Matthew Knies has never had a knee injury before
So when the Toronto Maple Leafs forward fell to the ice with pain in his knee, his brain took him to a bit of a dark place.
"I didn’t really know what to expect and think of where I felt a little nauseous that I didn’t want it to be too serious," Knies said. Fortunate that it didn’t end up being like that."
Knies was back on the ice for the Maple Leafs' optional skate ahead of their game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday and will be in the lineup. At practice on Monday, Knies had to be helped off the ice when another player's stick got caught in his skate.
"I kind of fell awkward back onto my knee and pushed it wrong and just was in a lot of discomfort there, it just didn't feel right to me," Knies explained. "It kind of felt more serious than it was when I was exiting the ice, I just kind of had to let it settle down and kind of ease it up and it started to feel good by the end of the day."
It's good news for the Maple Leafs team that will not see any changes to its lineup other than Noah Gregor returning after missing one game due to a flu bug. Nick Robertson, will be scratched again, despite having three goals in his last four games.
Martin Jones will make his sixth consecutive start in goal when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday.
The 33-year-old veteran is 4-0-0 in January with a .972 save percentage.
The Islanders will start Ilya Sorokin in goal. He has a career save percentage of .916 in six games against the Maple Leafs.
Where to watch
In the Toronto region, the game will be broadcast and streamed on TSN4. For the rest of Canada, the game will be streamed on Sportsnet+ Premium. In the United States, the game will be broadcast and streamed on ESPN. For the rest of the world, the game will stream on the respective country's NHL Live streaming carrier.
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