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In a ‘normal’ season, this wouldn’t be a difficult decision.
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A team closing in on its first playoff berth in eight years should rest its injured captain, looking to May, not worrying about him playing an already-eliminated non-conference foe in March.
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But the backstory is atypical between the Anaheim Ducks and Maple Leafs approaching Monday night at the Honda Center. Radko Gudas, who has triggered more debate in Toronto than tearing down the Gardiner Expressway for him tearing Auston Matthews’ knee, made it known he wants to be in the Ducks lineup.
That’s despite his own knee mishap, from an awkward fall in Calgary on Thursday, hurting his left leg like Matthews, though not requiring season-ending MCL surgery as Toronto’s franchise goal leader.
When it came to fight or flight in response to Gudas’s nefarious knee on March 12 in Toronto, the four other Leafs on the ice leaned to the latter, a stance everyone in town criticized from their coach to casual fans.
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Maple Leafs learned their lesson?
Since then, at least until this Western U.S. trip began, the Leafs have been hitting harder and dropping the gloves with regularity in support of mates, led by those who didn’t retaliate for Matthews at the time.
Circled on the schedule was Monday and the question of how far the Toronto bench would be willing to go to atone in any tete-a-tete with Gudas. There’s not a lot of meaning in the Leafs other renaming eight dates, unless it’s tank talk or Game 82 becomes must-win for division-rival Ottawa.
Gudas, who served his five-game NHL suspension and expressed regret for his action, has told his team that wild horses couldn’t drag him away. He intends to at least show up if the Leafs want to do something, per the unwritten NHL code. He’s already vilified north of the border for the hit that took Sidney Crosby out of the Olympics when Canada beat the Czech Republic.
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As of Sunday, a day off for Anaheim after a loss in Edmonton which Gudas sat, there was no word on his medical re-assessment by club doctors. He was seen in a precautionary walking boot after the Calgary game.
If Gudas plays, limited ice time or not, it could be the Leafs in the awkward position. After harping on the tepid response to the hit and expressing delight at how they’d stuck up for each other lately, Toronto coach Craig Berube seemed to back off advocating frontier justice.
Don’t do anything stupid
“We have to be highly competitive against them, but not go out and do stupid things and (get) suspensions,” Berube told media in St. Louis on Saturday. “That’s not what it’s all about. (But) we definitely have to go out and play a physical, hard game against that team.”
It would be better for all concerned if Gudas sits and takes away most of the distraction, but as nothing was announced as of late Sunday, you can bet he’s going to do his best to play.
The Ducks lead the Pacific Division with 86 points as of Sunday evening, three up on the Edmonton Oilers. Toronto trails every team in the Eastern Conference except Florida and the New York Rangers and for now is staying ahead of six in the West, most of whom are right behind with games in hand.
Lhornby@postmedia.com
X: @sunhornby
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