Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews left Thursday night’s game after taking a hit to the left knee from Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas.

“That’s a dirty play,” said coach Craig Berube. “The league is obviously going to look at it and see what the suspension will be, or whatever happens.”

Gudas received a major penalty and game misconduct.

Radko Gudas goes knee-on-knee with Auston Matthews. Gudas received a minute major pending review. Auston Matthews was down for a while but has gotten back to his feet. pic.twitter.com/Rxf6xIe1GH

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 13, 2026

Berube did not have an update on Matthews’ condition.

“He’ll be looked at tomorrow,” the coach said.

The Leafs will have a travel day on Friday with no media session currently planned. The team’s next skate is scheduled for Saturday in Buffalo where they will face the Sabres in the evening.

Berube did not like the hit on Matthews or the way his team initially responded to it. With Matthews lying on the ice, none of the other Leafs confronted Gudas.

“We should’ve had four guys in there doing something about it,” Berube said. “It didn’t happen then, but I thought they responded in the third. It was a good response there. We all would’ve liked everyone to get in there right away.”

Trailing 3-2 in the second period, the Leafs scored twice on the five-minute power play en route to a 6-4 win, which snapped an eight-game skid (0-6-2). But despite posting their first win since Feb. 3, the mood was downbeat in the dressing room yet again.

The other players on the ice when Matthews got hurt included the two longest-serving members of the team in defenceman Morgan Rielly and winger William Nylander, who both took responsibility.

“I didn’t have a good view of it just because the puck was going the other way, but it’s on me for not responding earlier to Gudas,” Rielly said. “Obviously, it’s a dirty hit. I didn’t understand how bad he got him in the moment, but I take full responsibility for not being the first one in there or being there quicker to respond. That being said, I thought our group played well in the third and was able to respond, but ultimately when your captain goes down like that on a dirty play, you have to respond as a group. But I also take responsibility for not being the first one in there after the hit.”

“I didn’t really see the hit,” Nylander said. “I know I passed the puck to him, but I didn’t really see what happened. I should have probably gotten in there. But, I mean, in the situation, at the time, I didn’t really understand until like 15 seconds later, there was more than what I thought it was. And, yeah, I should have jumped in there.”

The other skaters on the ice were rookie winger Easton Cowan and defenceman Brandon Carlo.

Berube addressed the lack of a response in the dressing room in the second intermission. The coach said the players also spoke about it. What was it like?

“That’s in the room,” Berube said. “I’m not going to open that up to everybody.”

Was the focus to up the intensity?

“Well, not, you know, like a bunch of idiots,” said Rielly. “But to play hard, yeah.”

“We talked,” said winger Matthew Knies. “Obviously, we want to get some licks on their top players. You know, it’s, again, frustrating seeing our best player go down like that. But we stayed on course and didn’t really do anything too stupid. And I think we just fought back and played a great game.”

Cowan dropped the gloves with Jackson LaCombe after the Ducks defenceman delivered a big hit on Nick Robertson. It was the 20-year-old’s first NHL fight.

“That was awesome,” said Nylander. “I was loving every second of it.”

Nylander delivered a big check on defenceman Drew Helleson. It was just his sixth registered hit of the season.

Rielly got into it with Ducks forward Jeffrey Viel with both going to the box for roughing.

Max Domi received an interference penalty and misconduct for going after Ducks rookie Beckett Sennecke.

Defenceman Jake McCabe and Viel got roughing minors at the buzzer.

The Leafs have faced questions about their ability to respond to these situations in the past. During the 2023-24 season, a team meeting was held after Timothy Liljegren was hurt by a hit from Brad Marchand and there was no response.

Berube is hoping this latest flashpoint can be a turning point.

“Well, it shows that you need passion, emotion in the game to be successful,” Berube said. “It really does. We all know that. And they played with passion and emotion in the third period.”

The Leafs and Ducks will meet again on March 30 in Anaheim.