The Maple Leafs and Sabres (optional) skated at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Saturday. <\/p>\n
Leafs captain Auston Matthews<\/a> will miss the final 16 games of the season after suffering a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion courtesy a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim Ducks<\/a> defenceman Radko Gudas<\/a>. <\/p>\n The NHL\u2019s Department of Player Safety suspended Gudas for five games. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not enough,\u201d said coach Craig Berube<\/a>. \u201cI mean, you lose your star player, your captain, for the year, the guy doing it is a repeat offender, it just doesn\u2019t seem like enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe Auston\u2019s been ruled out for quite a while, right?\u201d said centre John Tavares<\/a>. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be more than five games is what he\u2019s missing, so it easily could\u2019ve been longer. Can\u2019t say five games is nothing but, yeah, easily could have seen it been longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Gudas stuck out his knee to deny Matthews a scoring chance late in the second period on Thursday night. The 28-year-old centre needed help getting to the dressing room.<\/p>\n Is the NHL doing enough to protect its stars? <\/p>\n \u201cTo see a player go down like that and be in as much pain as he was getting off the ice, and a guy like that who is a repeat offender of occasions like that, you know, I don\u2019t think it was enough is all I\u2019ll say about that,\u201d said winger Matthew Knies<\/a>. <\/p>\n Radko Gudas has now been suspended for 26 total games during his NHL career, forfeiting more than $855,000 in salary<\/p>\n \u2014 Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Jake McCabe<\/a> called the decision by George Parros<\/a>, who is the head of the NHL\u2019s Department of Player Safety, \u201cfrustrating\u201d before biting his lip. <\/p>\n \u201cI can sit here and say whatever, but it\u2019s not going to change it,\u201d McCabe said. \u201cI\u2019m not in charge. I\u2019m not George sitting in the chair making the phone call and making those decisions so it doesn\u2019t matter what the hell I say.\u201d<\/p>\n Gudas had a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Friday. <\/p>\n McCabe plays a hard-nosed style like Gudas, but sees no mitigating factors in the play. <\/p>\n \u201cI play plenty hard,\u201d McCabe said. \u201cI haven\u2019t been suspended.\u201d<\/p>\n Gudas has now been suspended five times in his NHL career.<\/p>\n ‘Don’t think it was enough’: Leafs frustrated by length of Gudas suspension Auston Matthews is out for the rest of the season after suffering an MCL injury due to a ‘dirty’ knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas, who was handed a five-game suspension for the play. The Leafs don’t feel like the punishment was as severe as it should’ve been given that Gudas is a repeat offender. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Agent Judd Moldaver, who represents Matthews, issued a scathing statement on Friday night after the NHL handed down its punishment. <\/p>\n \u201cIn light of the obvious severity of the play, I am disappointed and shocked the league would allow such a ruling,\u201d Moldaver said in a statement issued to TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston. \u201cA phone hearing and five games is laughable and preposterous. While the process is set in our CBA, that this was the discipline is reckless and ridiculous. <\/p>\n \u201cThis decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players. Players and fans deserve better. The Player Safety Department should be suspended.\u201d<\/p>\n Teammates have not had much time to check in with Matthews since the abrupt end to his season. Friday was a travel day for the team. Toronto is starting a two-game trip in Buffalo on Saturday night with a stop in Minnesota coming up on Sunday.<\/p>\n Knies planned to reach out to Matthews on Saturday afternoon or on Sunday. Berube had a \u201cpretty short\u201d check in with Matthews on Friday. Tavares also \u201cbriefly connected\u201d with Matthews via text on Friday. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be good to see him after the next couple games and pick up his spirits,\u201d said Tavares. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult, obviously, any time you have an injury, but I know he\u2019ll turn the page and do whatever he\u2019s got to do to take care of himself and respond and get himself healthy and put himself in a really good spot moving forward. He\u2019s played a lot of hockey. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been obviously an up and down year for us, and I know how much he\u2019s taken the responsibility to lead the way and find solutions and do everything he can to help the team. So give him a chance here to kind of regroup and get some rest and heal it.\u201d<\/p>\n Leafs say Matthews is still processing abrupt end to ‘rollercoaster’ season Auston Matthews sustained a significant knee injury from the hit by Radko Gudas on Thursday night and will miss the remainder of the season. The Maple Leafs say Matthews is still processing the abrupt end to his season, which head coach Craig Berube calls a ‘rollercoaster’ ride that had a lot of noise. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n With Matthews writhing in pain on the ice on Thursday, none of the four other Leafs skaters engaged Gudas physically. Defenceman <\/a>Morgan Rielly<\/a> and winger <\/a>William Nylander <\/a>admitted they should have done more in that moment<\/a>. <\/p>\n The team addressed the lack of a response in the second intermission and liked how they played in the final frame en route to a 6-4 win. <\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, we responded in the third period, which was obviously needed,\u201d McCabe said. \u201cUnfortunate that that\u2019s what it took for us to play like we did finally after that stretch of games.\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s win snapped an eight-game skid (0-6-2) coming out of the Olympic break. <\/p>\n The lack of an initial response dominated conversation in Toronto<\/a> in the wake of the game. <\/p>\n Sabres coach Lindy Ruff<\/a> expects the Leafs to be \u201cas hungry as they possibly can with what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Can lack of initial response to Gudas knee on Matthews be a turning point for Leafs? The Maple Leafs took accountability for not having a strong enough response immediately after Radko Gudas’ knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews, but are proud of how they stepped up in the third to make the Ducks pay and hope to carry that energy into tonight’s battle in Buffalo. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Toronto\u2019s team toughness has been a talking point throughout the Matthews era. Early in the 2023-24 season, the Leafs held a team meeting after there was no response to Brad Marchand<\/a> after the then-Bruins winger injured young defenceman Timothy Liljegren<\/a> with a controversial trip. <\/p>\n The Leafs are hoping what happened can be a turning point when it comes to how they defend each other on the ice. <\/p>\n \u201cWe talked about it,\u201d Knies said. \u201cWe want to stick up for each other and be a tight unit in this locker room, and I think we just didn\u2019t do a good enough job of that in the moment. But I think in the third period we showed that we can fight back and play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sabres experienced a similar situation last season. In February 2025, there was no response from any Sabres player after a head hit on Tage Thompson<\/a> by New Jersey\u2019s Stefan Noesen<\/a>. The Sabres held a meeting to address what happened. <\/p>\n Ruff describes that as a \u201chard lesson\u201d for his group. <\/p>\n \u201cYou learn from it, you move on, you grow as a team, you talk about \u2018It starts with me,\u2019\u201d said Ruff. \u201cYou talk about what true teammates are like and what they\u2019ll do for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a wake-up call for us,\u201d said Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin<\/a>. \u201cWe told each other, \u2018This is never going to happen again.\u2019 This year we\u2019ve really worked on the team chemistry and the brotherhood and now it just comes naturally. If someone does anything to one of the guys in here, I\u2019ll protect them. That\u2019s the culture we\u2019ve created here.\u201d<\/p>\n How do you work on chemistry? <\/p>\n \u201cDrink beer,\u201d Dahlin said with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s a mix of everything. You spend so much time with each other, you really have to find ways to get the group together and really get to know each other on a deep level that\u2019s different than just being a teammate. That comes with going to dinners and, like I said, drinking some beers. Talk, get to know each other, I think that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Drink beer’: What can Leafs learn from how Sabres built team toughness? Sabres players Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Owen Power and head coach Lindy Ruff discuss how they received a wake-up call last year in regards to not sticking up for each other, and have created a culture that they are now all-in for one another and credit that as one of the reasons for their success this season. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Since the trade deadline, Berube has been reluctant to talk about where this Leafs season went wrong. The coach had hoped such conversations could wait until the end of the year. <\/p>\n But after Saturday\u2019s skate, Berube indulged a couple big-picture questions. <\/p>\n \u201cWe never got any traction throughout the season and consistency that we were looking for,\u201d Berube said. \u201cWe did have some good runs and [then] it stopped again. Like, we just didn\u2019t keep it going. It\u2019s been a rollercoaster season.\u201d<\/p>\n Berube was asked about the role of injuries in that inconsistency. <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, injuries, but everybody\u2019s got injuries,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, you\u2019ve got to deal with that in this game. This year there\u2019s been a lot of injuries, I think, throughout the league. So we can\u2019t look at that. That\u2019s an excuse almost, you know. But … right from the get-go, with our goaltending situation, where it was at, we didn\u2019t have that one-two punch at all for a long time. Different things, but it\u2019s not the time to get into all that, guys.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph Woll<\/a> and Anthony Stolarz<\/a> formed a formidable tandem during the 2024-25 season. That consistently strong goaltending helped Toronto finish first in the Atlantic Division and push the Florida Panthers<\/a> to seven games in the second round of the playoffs. <\/p>\n Woll missed the start of this season due to personal leave with Stolarz struggling under the weight of an increased workload. Stolarz then sustained a nerve-related injury right before Woll returned to the lineup in November and did not play again until late January. <\/p>\n Leafs Ice Chips: Berube adjusts without Matthews and reflects on where season went wrong Craig Berube was asked about the Maple Leafs’ rollercoaster season and says he feels like they never really got any traction and injuries didn’t help that either. Mark Masters has more on Berube’s pre-game availability. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Woll will make a third straight start on Saturday in Buffalo. <\/p>\n \u201cI kind of want to just see him play,\u201d Berube explained. \u201cLooking at his game, he\u2019s been sharp. I\u2019ve liked his game. I just want to see him play some games in a row here and see where he\u2019s at. You know, I think it\u2019s a good time to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Stolarz is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Wild. <\/p>\n —<\/p>\n