{"id":235245,"date":"2026-03-25T04:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235245\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T04:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:05:13","slug":"gudas-feels-terribly-about-hit-on-leafs-auston-matthews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/235245\/","title":{"rendered":"Gudas feels &#8216;terribly&#8217; about hit on Leafs&#8217; Auston Matthews"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>A repentant Radko Gudas was set to return to the Anaheim Ducks\u2019 lineup on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Before the Ducks played in Vancouver against the Canucks, Gudas told media at Rogers Arena that he reached out to Matthews in the days after the incident, which happened on March 12 at Scotiabank Arena.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Auston Matthews takes a knee-on-knee hit\" class=\"embedded-image__image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0325collisioncrop-e1774395181427.jpg\"  height=\"750\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\"\/> Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews takes a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas in Toronto on March 12, 2026. Photo by Nathan Denette \/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe spoke and I never want to see anybody get hurt,\u201d Gudas said. \u201cI feel terrible about the outcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI respect the league\u2019s decision. I didn\u2019t like the point of contact either. I have to learn, have to be better as a hockey player. I never want to go out there and hurt anybody. It\u2019s very unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matthews in recovery mode<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" underwent=\"\" successful=\"\" mcl=\"\" surgery=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/matthews-undergoes-mcl-surgery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matthews underwent successful MCL surgery<\/a> on his left knee last Thursday in New York and the Leafs said at the time that his recovery period would be approximately 12 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Matthews\u2019 season is done; Gudas, the Ducks captain, returns to a club that is in first place in the Pacific Division and could go on a playoff run.<\/p>\n<p>It was the fifth suspension given to Gudas by the National Hockey League, and when he argued his case with the league, he pointed out that he had not been suspended since 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m doing everything in my power to stay on the right side, to play hard and be on the good side of it,\u201d Gudas said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really hate the way (the play) ended up. Just committed to the play and unfortunately that was the point of contact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Leafs will have chance to respond to Gudas on March 30 when they visit Anaheim.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">Certainly, it can\u2019t be the same as what we saw when the hit happened: <a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" of=\"\" the=\"\" leafs=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/no-surprise-went-easy-radko-gudas-auston-matthews-injury\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">None of the Leafs<\/a> on the ice at the time \u2014 William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Brandon Carlo and Easton Cowan \u2014 thought it would have been in their best interest to try to go after Gudas.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">The lack of immediate response, rightfully so, <a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" a=\"\" major=\"\" talking=\"\" point=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/failure-to-stand-up-for-matthews-embarrassing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">became a major talking point<\/a> in the days that followed.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\"><a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"mailto:tkoshan@postmedia.com\">tkoshan@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>X: @koshtorontosun<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/why-michael-pezzetta-in-calle-jarnkrok-out\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Toronto Maple Leafs' Michael Pezzetta (61) fights with Anaheim Ducks Jeffrey Viel (28) during a game.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0325-michael-pezzetta-maple-leafs-fight.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Why Maple Leafs&#8217; Michael Pezzetta is in and Calle Jarnkrok out against the Bruins<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/anthony-stolarz-recovers-puck-throat-incident\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs takes a break during a game against the Boston Bruins earlier this season.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0124-anthony-stolarz-maple-leafs.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz recovers after scary puck\u2011to\u2011the\u2011throat incident<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content A repentant Radko Gudas was set to return to the Anaheim Ducks\u2019 lineup on Tuesday night.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-235245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}