Maple Leafs forward Max Domi will sit out Wednesday's game due a nagging lower-body injury.

"He needs some time off," said head coach Craig Berube. "He needs some rest to get healthy. That's the bottom line. We practised yesterday, but it wasn't doing well."

Domi, who missed the previous two practices due to the undisclosed issue, was the first player off the ice on Tuesday and did not meet with the media despite requests.

The Leafs don't play again until Sunday when the Utah Hockey Club comes to town.

"That's a big part of it for sure," Berube said of the light schedule this week. "He wants to play, but we've got to do what's best for him too ... Get some rest and get healed up."

The Leafs will be missing six forwards on Wednesday night. Auston Matthews (upper body), Max Pacioretty (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (groin and sports hernia surgery), David Kampf (lower body) are also hurt while Ryan Reaves is serving the first game of a five-game suspension.

"This is what happens during the season," winger William Nylander said. "This might be the most [injuries] we've had in a long time, but, you know, we'll find a way to battle through."

Toronto is 5-1-0 without Matthews in the lineup. Mitch Marner leads the way with 10 points in this stretch.

"Well, Marner's always a threat," noted Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. "Nylander, I mean, my days in Boston, he was a Bruins killer. We know that John Tavares is having a great year, so they still got lots of offensive threats."

And every team is forced to deal with injury issues. Vegas is currently without captain Mark Stone.

"We're down a couple guys too," pointed out defenceman Alex Pietrangelo. "Sometimes things just become more simple ... sometimes things get more direct, a little more straightforward."

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Domi is mired in a career long 13-game point drought, but he's been soaking up key minutes as a top-six centre with Matthews out.

The Knights left the second-line centre spot vacant on the projected Leafs lineup written on their dressing room whiteboard this morning.

So, who will move to the middle?

"I was thinking about it," Berube, who retired as a player after the 2003-04 season, said with a smile. "But [Pontus] Holmberg will go in the middle. He's played the middle........

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