Kronwall lays the BOOM, Matthews goes down hard favoring his shoulder

You can excuse Toronto Maple Leafs fans if they’re a a little skittish when it comes to superstar forward Auston Matthews these days. After all the red hot sniper missed a full month of action with a shoulder injury earlier this season.

Well… you may want to look away Leafs fans.

In the second period of tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, Matthews took a HARD hit from Wings defensemen Nicklas Kronwall and went hard into the boards. He got up and appeared to be favoring his previously injured shoulder.

Check it out:

A dangerous play from Nikolas Kronwall results in Auston Matthews going hard into the boards shoulder first. Hope he's ok. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/OovgLp1EI4
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) December 7, 2018

Ouch… that’s not good.

UPDATE: Matthews is BACK on the ice for the ensuing power play and is seemingly suffering no ill effects.

Kronwall lays the BOOM, Matthews goes down hard favoring his shoulder

Hockey world mourns tragic death of young team captain

Coyotes fans make a plea to Oilers fans for final game in Arizona

Marc-Andre Fleury officially announces his future

Report: Coyotes players go off on Arizona, talk about how happy they are to be leaving

Tortorella didn't know about Red Wings score until after he pulled the goalie