Radko Gudas conveniently ducks the Leafs during last night's Leafs/Ducks game
Photo credit: The Star
Back in May, the Toronto Maple Leafs fell in 5 games to the Florida Panthers in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in what was a pretty lopsided series. The Panthers had their way with the Buds in the series, but rather than suffering a clean beat, the Leafs faced a bad beat when Radko Gudas grabbed ahold of Calle Jarnkrok's stick, preventing him from making a defensive play on Nick Cousins, who buried the game-winner past a rookie Joseph Woll.
As controversial as the goal was, it paled in comparison to how tasteless and insulting Gudas' next actions were. Upon seeing the puck go in, Gudas leaned over, got right into the face of Woll, and screamed at him at the top of his lungs before turning back to celebrate with his teammates in what can only be described as a display of poor sportsmanship.
Last night, the Leafs finally had the opportunity to square off against Gudas for the first time since the incident. Gudas had inked a multi-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks in the offseason. With the Leafs rolling through Anaheim last night, one of the major storylines heading into this road trip was about what that first meeting between Gudas and the Leafs might look like. Unfortunately, the meeting never occurred, because Gudas was "sick".
Did Radko Gudas duck the Leafs last night?
Obviously, and no pun intended, but it does sort of feel like Gudas ducked the Leafs here. We know that the Leafs were sour after the infamous Gudas screaming controversy. Ryan Reaves, who is currently working his way back from a knee injury, spoke about the incident in the summer, issuing a warning to Gudas directly, challenging him to try that again now that Reavo's on the team.
While neither player ended up playing in the game, it certainly does seem like the Leafs have held onto that and may have some form of a response in store for Gudas.
The Leafs will have one more crack at the Ducks this season, but not until February 17th. The game is scheduled to occur in Toronto as well, so the Leafs will have the luxury of having the last change. It will be interesting to see if Keefe tries to get Reavo out there against Gudas at any point in time during that game. It feels like it's bound to happen.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 4 | 719 ANSWERS Radko Gudas conveniently ducks the Leafs during last night's Leafs/Ducks game Will Radko Gudas drop the gloves with Ryan Reaves when the Ducks visit Toronto on February 17th? | ||
| Yes | 188 | 26.1 % |
| No | 250 | 34.8 % |
| I'll bet one of them isn't even in the lineup | 281 | 39.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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