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Auston Matthews’ quest to start scoring again is probably going to have to continue without his wingman.

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Mitch Marner, who earns part of his paycheque feeding Matthews the puck, missed Maple Leafs practice on Monday at Scotiabank Arena because of a lower-body injury, two days after he didn’t play in the Leafs’ win in Montreal against the Canadiens for the same reason.

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And though it’s a light week for the Leafs — they play in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Thursday and entertain the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday — Marner apparently will remain on the sideline for the time being.

“Mitch is day to day,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Unlikely to play on Thursday. We think this time (between games) is important for him. But day to day from that point.”

Marner appeared to suffer the injury during the Leafs’ 4-1 loss in Boston against the Bruins last Thursday.

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Matthews, meanwhile, has gone cold to the point that he has fallen below a 70-goal pace. From Feb. 15-22, Matthews scored 10 goals in five games. In eight games since, he has two goals.

Matthews now is on pace for 69 goals.

“Stuff like that happens sometimes,” Matthews said of his recent quiet stretch. “The puck’s not going to go in all the time.

“I want to produce, I want to help the team win, do my part. Two out of four games through the week, especially against some tough competition (two losses against the Bruins, in which Matthews had no points), a couple of those games and points that we’d like maybe back.

“It’s an important time of the year for our team and trying to build ourselves individually and collectively as a group as we wind down toward the end of the season.”

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That outlook is shared in the room, with focus a little sharper on the remainder of the regular season now that the National Hockey League trade deadline has passed.

The Leafs have 18 games to play, and their spot in third place in the Atlantic Division is all but cemented. They were nine points behind the Bruins, who were in second with 91 points, before the Bruins played the St. Louis Blues on Monday night. And Toronto was eight points up on the Tampa Bay Lightning, which is fourth in the division but trying to hold off the New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings in the jockeying for a wildcard.

Not that there was ever the threat of upheaval in the Leafs room as the deadline approached — and that’s how it turned out, as general manager Brad Treliving added defencemen Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin and forward Connor Dewar while losing only defenceman William Lagesson on waivers — the players can hunker down knowing that this what they are.

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“That’s the conversation you have as a coach,” Keefe said. “This is our group and let’s get to work and dig in and understand your roles and responsibilities and helping this team win.

“For different players, the deadline means different things. Some guys, it doesn’t concern them at all, just business as usual. But there’s a number of guys, anytime there’s a player coming in or out, that it may directly affect them. I think it has an impact.”

The Leafs say they’re set to back up Treliving’s words from this past Friday, when he said it was up to those within the room’s four walls to find success.

“We have the guys in here that can get it done,” winger Ryan Reaves said. “We’ve believed that the whole year. We’ve added a couple pieces to tweak the lineup.

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“I think the comments were right, it’s going to come from within.”

Whether Matthews is scoring, and yes, he knows that it would help, Matthews will be the driver, along with William Nylander and Marner, once the latter returns.

“The weeks leading up to the trade deadline are always exciting and you never really know what’s going to happen,” Matthews said. “There’s lots of rumours and lots of things swirling around.

“Once it’s over, you settle in, everybody’s got their team and now the focus is on us as a group. We’ll continue to push each other and build our game in a positive manner.

“These last 18 games, each one we have to treat precisely and get the things right that we slip on at times, take positive steps moving forward.”

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