Not shocking that Leafs let Radko Gudas hit on Matthews go

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It seems the Maple Leafs can’t even win right.

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The satisfaction of ending an eight-game losing streak on Thursday, 6-4 over the very deep Anaheim Ducks, was overshadowed by Auston Matthews suffering a deliberate knee injury of unknown severity.

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How that unfolded, with known-aggressor Radko Gudas sticking out his left leg into Matthews five minutes after the captain broke his 12-game personal goal slump, was compounded by Gudas skating to the penalty box untouched by the four other Leafs on the ice, other than to chirp.

Gudas was to have a phone hearing with the National Hockey League’s department of player safety on Friday. The Leafs had the day off and an update on Matthews likely won’t come until Saturday before they play in Buffalo.

DNA, DO NOT ANTAGONIZE

Toronto coach Craig Berube, a known enforcer in his playing days, was quite blunt after Thursday about his team’s tepid response to the incident.

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“We should’ve had four guys in there doing something about it, but it didn’t happen then,” he said. “That’s a dirty play.”

Alternate captain Morgan Rielly tried to take the lion’s share of the blame, claiming not to have seen how nefarious the hit was from his angle, agreeing Gudas should’ve faced immediate frontier justice.

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But should anyone really be shocked that Rielly, William Nylander, Brandon Carlo and Easton Cowan, the quartet on the ice, didn’t fly off the handle? It’s no secret such a muted reply is still very much in the Leafs’ DNA, especially surviving Core Four members Rielly and Nylander.

That’s despite general manager Brad Treliving’s attempts to toughen their fabric for playoffs (spoiler alert, Maple Leaf Square won’t be cluttered next month for any watch parties).

Carlo is a big defenceman, but inclined to use his size strictly for tactics, not to terrorize. Meanwhile, two players supposed to give the Leafs some snarl, Dakota Joshua and Steven Lorentz, had played their way out of the lineup before Thursday when the team’s spiral reached 0-6-2.

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When the Leafs did get their dander up against the Ducks for the hit, by most accounts it was a fiery Berube speech in the second intermission and individual accountability.

“To play hard, yeah, but not like a bunch of idiots,” is how Rielly explained the mood.

Significantly it was new blood making noise all night for Toronto: Michael Pezzetta with a fight at the opening faceoff of his debut and rookie Cowan later coming to Nick Robertson’s defence in the third period by dropping the gloves.

Rielly did try to atone for letting Gudas off the hook with Anaheim’s instigator Jeffrey Viel, while Max Domi — in some kind of personal feud with Anaheim’s Beckett Sennecke — served 14 minutes in all.

Jake McCabe, who jumped Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher the game before for a clean hit on Cowan, was wrestling Viel at the final horn.

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MAKE ‘EM PAY ANOTHER WAY

Overall, the old Kyle Dubas credo still pervades on the Leafs when the opposition gets nasty. Instead of elbows up, it’s turn the other cheek and get revenge on the power play.

That was the outcome Thursday, intentional or not. Toronto let Gudas’s five-minute major run its full course without being undercut by retaliation crowding their side of the penalty box.

The Matthews goal was from an earlier penalty he had drawn, while Nylander and John Tavares fueled the four-goal comeback, netting two during Gudas’ sentence.

“We responded to what the game required,” alternate captain Tavares said. “Emotions got high, we came back and (in the third) initiated play. I didn’t like the hit, (Gudas) clips him pretty good, I thought it was dirty. The referees reviewed it, made the right call and we took advantage of the (power-play) opportunity we had.

“We know the importance of sticking up for each other, whether it’s that moment or the response the rest of the game. The guys came out the rest of the night playing hard, playing physical, playing smart.”

One night and one win won’t satisfy many fans who’ve seen the Leafs pushed around and eventually out of this year’s playoffs or at crunch time every April by the likes Florida and Boston.

But for now, it’s a re-run of This Is Us.

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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