The Toronto Maple Leafs’ muted response to Radko Gudas’s knee-on-knee hit that left Leafs captain Auston Matthews injured on the ice Thursday night has drawn scrutiny from one of hockey’s most prominent analysts.
Speaking on the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman didn’t mince words about what he witnessed when Matthews went down on the ice in the second period against the Anaheim Ducks.
“There were players on the Maple Leafs who noticed the hit and didn’t do anything about it,” Friedman said. “It sure looks like this year has broken the spirit of that hockey team a bit and they’re gonna have to recover it in the offseason.”
“But it was just shocking to watch that. I don’t know if people were intimidated by Gudas but it was jarring in a night where you saw so many other NHL players stand up for their teammates.”
The incident occurred at 15:47 of the second period when Gudas extended his left knee as Matthews attempted to maneuver around him in the slot resulting in a knee-on-knee collision. And when their captain went down, there was no immediate surge to confront Gudas as is usually seen in the sport.
Matthews remained on the ice before being assisted to the locker room by trainer Jon Geller and defenseman Brandon Carlo. He did not return to the game and was ruled out with a lower-body injury.
Gudas received a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. He is scheduled for a hearing with NHL Player Safety on Friday which could result in a suspension of up to five games.
William Nylander, Craig Berube address Leafs’ lack of reaction to hit on Auston Matthews
Head coach Craig Berube addressed the media following the game and made his position clear on both the nature of the hit and his team’s reaction to it.
“It’s a dirty play. League’s going to obviously look at it and see what the suspension will be or whatever happens,” Berube said of the hit itself.
He then turned his attention to his team’s lack of immediate response.
“We should’ve had four guys in there doing something about it, but it didn’t happen. But I thought they responded in the third. It was a good response there, but we all would’ve liked everybody to get in there right away.”
Forward William Nylander, who had delivered the pass to Matthews moments before the collision, also addressed his reaction to the play.
“I didn’t really see the hit. I didn’t know the severity of it, and I should have probably gone in there,” Nylander said. “But at the time, I didn’t understand until 15 seconds later that it was more than what I thought it was.”
The hit came shortly after Matthews had scored his first goal in 12 games earlier in the second period. The Maple Leafs had entered the contest on an eight-game losing streak, their longest skid in over a decade, but managed to come out with a 6-4 win on the night.
Edited by Anjum Rajonno
