BUFFALO — Two days after captain Auston Matthews suffered a season-ending injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs expressed anger over the knee-on-knee hit that caused it and disappointment in the length of the league’s ensuing suspension to Anaheim’s Radko Gudas.
Max Domi watched from the Maple Leafs bench on Thursday night as his good friend and captain was kneed by the Ducks defenceman. Domi said he felt one emotion, and one emotion only.
“Anger,” he said Saturday in Buffalo as the Leafs prepared to face the Sabres.
The Leafs announced on Friday that Matthews will miss the remainder of the regular season with a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion. Gudas has been suspended for five games, the league said Friday night.
Domi has played 11 seasons in the NHL. He was asked if he’d felt that kind of anger before.
“It’s been a while,” he said.
Multiple Leafs described Gudas’ suspension as light considering the severity of Matthews’ injury. Though they showed it in different ways, Domi’s anger over losing their captain and Gudas’ suspension was shared by many.
“To see a player go down like that and be in as much pain as he was going off the ice, and a guy like (Gudas) who is a repeat offender of occasions like that, I don’t think it was enough,” Matthew Knies said.
“I think the league could’ve done a little bit more seeing as our best player, our captain (is) not going to be with us for the rest of the year. That’s a big loss,” Knies added.
“I think it easily could have been (longer),” John Tavares said of the suspension. “Auston’s been ruled out for quite a while, right?”
“We lose our captain for the year. It doesn’t seem like enough for me,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “The guy doing it is a repeat offender. It just doesn’t seem like enough.”
“It’s not the first time (Gudas) has done it. So, it’s frustrating,” Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe added.
McCabe — himself a physical, hard-nosed defenceman — was asked if there might be any explanation for Gudas’ actions.
He paused.
“I play plenty hard,” he said. “I haven’t been suspended.”
McCabe also watched from the bench when Matthews went down.
“Your heart drops,” McCabe said. “You go into shock when you see it happen to your best player and your leader.”
McCabe also sustained an MCL tear earlier in his career and recalled his knee was stiff for weeks after the injury.
“You’ve got to let it rest,” he said of his recovery. “Luckily the MCL can repair itself and it’s one of the few ligaments that can.”
The frustration in the Leafs dressing room Saturday morning was as palpable as it’s been all season. Conversations with media members were brief and direct. Smiles were nowhere to be seen.
Their playoff hopes are over. And with little to play for in the standings, they are facing questions about whether they did enough to defend their teammate in the moment and how they will recover from losing their best player for the rest of the season.
“It’s the whole situation,” Domi continued of what brought his anger on. “When you see your captain and one of my closest buddies, one of the best players in the world, arguably face of the NHL get hit like that, there’s a lot of anger for sure.”
New forward lines
The Leafs will try to begin to pick up the pieces Saturday against one of the hottest teams in the NHL: the Buffalo Sabres, winners of 14 of their last 18 games.
The lines will look remarkably different without Matthews.
Here is how their forward group projects to line up against the Sabres:
Maccelli – Tavares – Nylander
Knies – Domi – Cowan
Joshua – Groulx – Robertson
Pezzetta – Quillan – Jarnkrok
Lorentz (Out)
