Before tonight's game against the New Jersey Devils, Auston Matthews provided an update on his health and continued rehab process after missing significant time. At the end of November, <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl-team/toronto-maple-leafs/maple-leafs-auston-matthews-is-officially-back-we-now-know-the-line-he-will-play-on' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Matthews finally returned to the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup </a> after missing significantly more time than he expected. A trip to Germany to see a specialist sparked concern from Maple Leafs fans regarding the severity of Matthews' injury and how it could impact him going forward. Since returning against the Tampa Bay Lightning Craig Berube has thrown Matthews right back on the top line and he has played well tallying a couple of multi-point games against the Lightning, Predators, and Penguins. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1864466156288987390'> </a></blockquote></div> While Matthews has played well so far since returning to the lineup there has not been much of an update regarding how much of an injury Matthews is dealing with. This afternoon we finally got an update regarding how healthy he is and what the process has been like for Matthews since taking the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning. <h3>Auston Matthews gives health update ahead of game against the Devils</h3> In a new interview, Matthews was asked about how he has felt since returning to the ice for the Maple Leafs. Matthews admitted that the first couple of games back he felt as though he was running on pure adrenaline as he got his legs back underneath him and used to playing at the NHL level again. I'm getting there. I mean, it's tough. You know, you jump right back into the games. After being out, I think it takes a little bit of time. It seems like the first couple of games, you're kinda running on adrenaline just because you've been out, and you're so excited to be back. While Matthews admits things are getting better overall, he still acknowledges that his body is dealing with the wear and tear of playing through ailments as he gets his conditioning back. Then, obviously, the wear and tear and the grind of playing a lot kinda comes back. So, it takes a little bit of time to really get your full conditioning and everything back. But like I said, every day, every game, I'm feeling better Overall it seems like Matthews is feeling better since visiting the specialist in Germany and getting his body taken care of along with almost a month's break. As the season continues on it will be interesting to see if Matthews can fight off the wear and tear and keep himself from re-aggravating the injury he was dealing with.