Fight with Radko Gudas too little, too late for Leafs
All eyes were on Orange County for Monday night’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks, as the two clubs met for the first time since Radko Gudas ended Auston Matthews’ season with a knee-on-knee hit.
The Leafs were panned for their lack of response to a dirty hit against their captain when it happened, and right off the opening face-off, it was Max Domi dropping the gloves against a hobbled Gudas, who did not really put up much of a fight.
Toronto won a dramatic game in overtime by rallying from multiple deficits, and on paper, it’s the type of win that could be a culture-shifter after a disastrous season.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why even the inspiring win and physical response to Gudas on the part of the Leafs was not enough to undo the damage done by the initial incident.
Tyler Yaremchuk: But last night, the tilt we were all waiting for here, Hutts, Radko Gudas, he said he was gonna answer the bell. He took off the walking boot, he played injured because he didn’t want any of his teammates to have to, you know, be the one to own up or answer for his mistake of kneeing Auston Matthews. And we got the tilt. It was Max Domi and Gudas right at center ice, right off the opening faceoff. What’d you make of this?
Carter Hutton: You know, I think it’s one of those scenarios where like he answered the bell and I respect that a lot. I think there’s a lot of integrity in the game. I just don’t even know if he went into this fight trying to even throw a punch. Like the Radko Gudas is a tough, tough customer and he’s been in a lot of situations. It felt like he was just gonna take his penance and move on from it. So I respect him for the way it was handled. And obviously, I think this is just a little bit too late for me for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I think you look at everything that’s gone on. It’s great. It’s a bit of a circus act now. This should have been dealt with the second Auston Matthews was kneed, my personal opinion… Anthony Stolarz, they’re skating by and he takes a little shot at Ville Husso Again, Anthony Stolarz, it’s a little too late. You should have been good when you called your teammates out earlier in the year. Now you’re in a situation where it doesn’t even matter.
Tyler Yaremchuk: It was just so performative. You’re right, if it was genuine, if they were actually a team that had each other’s backs who actually wanted to be in the fight together, this shit would not be happening in that game.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…