Until last week, 18-year-old Auston Matthews' first season of professional hockey with Zurich in National League A, Switzerland's top professional league, was ticking along as efficiently as one of the country's finest timepieces.
But Matthews' smooth season hit a bump in the road during a game Oct. 23 when he fell and crashed into the boards, sustaining a back injury.
He finished that game and played in the next two. But the Zurich medical staff decided it was best to hold Matthews out of a game last Friday, especially since the league now is on a two-week break.