Leafs’ Scott Laughton leaves game against Bruins with upper-body injury

Trouble for one of the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ veterans.

As the third period between the Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins began on Saturday night, the team announced that forward Scott Laughton wouldn’t return to the game due to an upper-body injury.

Laughton suffered the injury in the latter half of the second period. When trying to clear the puck out of Toronto’s zone, the 31-year-old was bowled over by Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov, leaving Laughton down on the ice in quite a bit of distress.

Laughton’s teammate, Bobby McMann, stepped in right away and dropped the gloves with the big blueliner. No penalty for the initial hit on Zadorov was handed out. Laughton initially went to the bench, but quickly went down the tunnel to the Leafs’ locker room.

Laughton has registered just 6:13 of ice time across 10 shifts in the game. He exited with a plus/minus of -1 in the contest, put a shot on goal, and blocked a shot while delivering four hits.

It was just the second game of the regular season for the Oakville, Ont. native. He made his season debut on Wednesday night in a 5-3 win over the Utah Mammoth. Laughton had suffered a lower-body injury during a preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings early last month. It led Laughton to miss the first 13 games of the season on injured reserve.

Laughton came to the Leafs at the trade deadline last season, as part of a deal between Toronto and the Philadelphia Flyers, which saw Nikita Grebenkin and a conditional 2027 first-round draft pick head to Philly, while Laughton and a 2027 sixth-round pick came to the Leafs.

In 20 games with Toronto, he potted two goals and two assists for four points, registering two assists in 13 playoff games, as the Leafs made it to the second round before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in seven games.

Overall, last year, Laughton potted 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points.