Although the Toronto Maple Leafs won against the Anaheim Ducks, they suffered a significant loss this evening. Before the start of the third period, the Maple Leafs announced that captain Auston Matthews had exited the game due to a lower-body injury.
It wasn’t difficult to isolate the injury either. Late in the second period, after getting the puck in front of the net, Ducks’ captain Radko Gudas sprinted at Matthews and delivered a knee-on-knee hit. Gudas was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing on the play and was ejected from the contest.
It’s not always easy to speculate on whether the Department of Player Safety will impose supplemental discipline on a given event. Still, Gudas has a track record of suspensions throughout his career. He was suspended for three games in 2015-16 (check to the head), six games in 2016-17 (check to the head), 10 games in 2017-18 (slashing to the head), and two games in 2018-19 (high-sticking).
Regardless of any extra punishment for Gudas, that won’t do Toronto any justice. The Maple Leafs are already effectively eliminated from postseason contention and may have to finish the 2025-26 campaign on an even worse note. Hopefully, Matthews’ injury isn’t too significant, and he’ll be able to finish the season on a strong note. However, if it is a severe knee injury, there is a possibility that Matthews won’t be able to start his offseason training on time.
Leading up to tonight’s contest against Anaheim, Matthews was having one of the worst offensive seasons of his professional career. He has registered 26 goals and 52 points in 59 games with a -4 rating, averaging 20:56 of ice time per night. Additionally, his possession and defensive metrics have each taken a step back, as well.
The Leafs-Ducks rematch on March 30th should be a fun one to watch. Ross Johnston back in the lineup will be the easiest decision Coach Q ever made. Same for Berube and Pezzeta. Domi will probably do something stupid. I can’t wait!
But seriously, hope Matthews is okay. Last thing the guy needs is another serious injury. Didn’t look good though.
@rollies. Yep he’ll be in and so too will Pezzetta. Too bad the leafs don’t have anyone else on the farm they could call up for some toughness. Maybe Blake Smith on D? They could sign Baddock to a year end contract and bring him up too I’d guess but very very unlikely.
Yeah maybe Smith and Baddock? I’m not familiar with the top PIM guys on that roster but if the Leafs really wanted to goon it up and go after some retribution, I think they could find a way. That would be very out of character for them though lol.
Shouldn’t have scored that goal dummy!!
Good on the Leafs for rallying around their captain. Gudas is todays Raffi Torres.
You mean how they all skated away from Gudas after the hit? Sure they took over in the 3rd but at the time they did absolutely nothing to defend him.
Yeah I was shocked how no one got in Gudas’ face after injuring their captain. That team is lost.
Was refering to coming back and winning the game.
I loved Raffi Torres!
Of course you did Wilf.
That’s a stupid retort even coming from you.
I’m also a big fan of Radko Gudas.
Should be 7-10 games for Gudas. Make punishments significant to eliminate these plays from the game. Will probably wind up 3-5 games instead. And Gudas won’t learn squat.
I remember watching him with the flyers thinking he might kill someone out there. Should get at least 10 games. His reputation is earned.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets less then 4 games but I would be surprised if the league throws the book at him. My problem is that there was no retaliation not even a slash to Gudas’ ankle hopefully breaking it. If there is no toughness throughout the leafs’ lineup I mean from everyone then the leafs will always be a Regular season team.
Auston Matthews needs to get the hell out of Toronto ASAP. He’s wasting his talent there. His teammates did absolutely nothing in defending their own captain against Radko Gudas. That’s utterly pathetic and disgraceful of Toronto’s players. A cowardice group as there is no brotherhood in that locker room. That shouldn’t sit well with Matthews at all.
If anything, players around the league are going to take even more notice to be very hesitant or not even remotely consider signing with Toronto. Everything about that organization and city is horrible from ownership to management to the fans to the media.
I hope Matthews will be alright and get well soon. Gudas should definitely be suspended for the dirty and underhanded hit that it was as it was totally unacceptable.
I agree with most of what you said but the city itself is incredible. And when you win, the fan support is unmatched aside from Montreal.
Something I considered last night after watching the play: if it were the other way around, would Matthews have jumped Gudas and started wailing on him? Because team toughness starts with its leader IMO. They already tried bringing in Ryan Reaves, Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford… none of their attitude rubbed off on the core guys.
Matthews is a giant dude. He could absolutely throw bodychecks if he wanted to and get in scrums after the whistle. And maybe if he played even slightly with an edge, his teammates would’ve had his back in the immediate aftermath of the play. Instead it took a message from Berube between periods to generate any kind of response. And for the most part it actually was a good response – the problem was that it wasn’t an organic reaction, in the moment.
The whole culture there has been cultivated to be skill first and let the secondary guys do the dirty work. Well, when the skill starts to disappear, the leftover product is pretty terrible. That organization needs an enema.
Not surprised at the lack of response, state of the game today when the toughest person on the bench is a coach that retired 20 years ago.
Absolutely correct, Gary Bettmans watered down, milk toast league is hard to watch, I nearly fell asleep trying to watch Tampa Bay, And Detroit last night, I’m already looking forward to the Tampa, Buffalo rematch on April 6th.
@Smartin
You must have the attention span of a nat. Tampa/Detroit was pure back and forth hockey. I guess you only watch for the constant scrums and when the games are dictated by the horrendous refs.
Looked intentional, 5 games would be fair.
Egregious attempts to injure should be punished by forfeiting a draft pick. In this case, Ducks’ 6th in the upcoming draft would go to the Leafs. That would give something back to Toronto who, as it is, lose the star player without compensation.
@ Jolly Roger – That is truly an ass-kicking punishment idea. I like. 👍🏻
How about a no contact, Flag league? We can turn off the scoreboard to, And shake hands after, And hand out gift bags.
How about Malkin? Did he deserve a suspension in your league?
Nobody wearing the Maple Leaf went after God’s, That’s embarrassing!
I watched it live and saw several replays. Did not look intentional at all. Should not have been a major nor a misconduct. Not every knee on knee is intentional. In fact, few are.
You may want to get your eyes checked if that is your take on this.
@GameMis,
I am not a Leafs fan at all, and their takes on it is a bit beyond wow. But your take is absolutely the worst of all. Gudas deserves 7-10 games for this, but will only get 3-5. He leads with his knee and has no intention of anything but making contact that way. If he was making any attempt at a defensive play he either would have run threw Matthews body, or slid to block an attempted shot and possibly taken his skates out. Not deliver a deliberate knee on knee shot.
@GameMisconduct – This clip (link to youtube.com) clearly shows Gudas the cheese wheel had tone on Matthews and let his AIM-9 Sidewinder shaped knee go right at Matthews’ knee. What was inexpicable and dissapointing was Coach Q’s quote after the game: (link to nhl.com)
Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said he did not think Gudas’ hit on Matthews was intentional.
“There’s no premeditation. It was a reflex action,” Quenneville said.
I agree with the coach!
Before some of you go through an entire box of kleenex, Advocating for a NO contact NHL, I would remind you that Pretty Boy skated off the ice on his own.
Well, he is a proud American!
@Smartin’Up! — Matthews was helped off by the trainer and Brandon Carlo, as reported. See clip here: link to youtube.com
And, for the record, I’m one of many NOT advocating for a powder-puff NHL. We are now seeing a surge in referee incompetence types deciding to enforce IIHF crap rules, and ignoring/changing NHL rules interpretation.
The Gudas hit didnt look intentional at all, But, The average person will believe anything if they hear it enough, Drinking the kool aid dosent take much energy.
100%
Now wilf is using alts to respond to his other alts. An old school troll wouldn’t need to do that, they’d tow the line and not need to create multiple accounts. This guy has old school HockeyBuzz vibes and just creates a new account when one account gets suspended or perma-banned. This character seems too much like the old Iggy/Jero guys from the HockeyBuzz site when it was relevant.