Auston Matthews injury: Maple Leafs' captain suffers lower-body injury on 'dirty' hit from Radko Gudas

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews exited Thursday night's win over the Anaheim Ducks after a knee-on-knee collision with Radko Gudas. Matthews didn't return, and he is scheduled to get an MRI on Friday, per Darren Dreger of TSN.

In the second period, not long after Matthews scored a power play goal to cut the Ducks' lead to 3-2, the Toronto captain put a move on Gudas in front of the Anaheim net. Unable to lay a good hit on Matthews, Gudas extended his leg into Matthews' left knee.

Matthews immediately went down in agony, holding his injured knee. He eventually had to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel.

Gudas received a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Gudas will have a hearing on Friday to determine supplemental discipline.

Toronto came back to win the game, 6-4, but the loss of Matthews may be a devastating final blow that ends a frustrating season for the Maple Leafs. Matthews leads the team in goals with 27, and he's fourth on the team in points with 53. The top heavy nature of the team's lineup means all the stars have to be healthy and firing on all cylinders for everything to click.

If the Leafs' playoff hopes haven't already been extinguished, losing Matthews for the rest of the season would do the trick.

Maple Leafs' address lack of response to "dirty" hit

When the hit first occurred, and Matthews was laying on the ice, none of his Maple Leafs teammates confronted Gudas in any way. Toronto has been flat for most of the 2025-26 season, but it was still shocking not to see anyone rush to Matthews' defense.

In their postgame press conferences, assistant captains John Tavares and Morgan Rielly described the hit as "dirty" and said the team should have done more to defend Matthews initially. Rielly shouldered the blame for the lack of a response.

"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. "It's a dirty hit. I didn't understand how bad he got him in the moment. I take full responsibility for not being the first one in there or the first one to respond. ... Ultimately, when your captain goes down like that on a dirty play, you have to respond as a group. I also take responsibility for not being the first one in there on the hit."

There was a more physical response in the third period, when Easton Cowan fought Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe, and the teams racked up a combined 48 penalty minutes. Toronto coach Craig Berube appreciated that effort, but he admitted the other four players on the ice at the time of Matthews' injury should have taken action.

"We should've had four guys in there doing something about it," Berube said. "It didn't happen then, but I thought we responded in the third. It was a good response there, but we'd like to see everybody get in right away."

Generally, it would be unfair to judge a team based on a 15-second stint following an ugly hit on its captain. However, Toronto has failed to meet the moment on numerous occasions this season, which is why it's eight points out of a playoff spot with 19 games remaining. The lack of an immediate response wasn't exactly out of character for the 2025-26 Maple Leafs.