Auston Matthews injury update: Maple Leafs captain leaves game, Radko Gudas ejected for kneeing
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews left Thursday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks with a lower-body injury. Matthews will not return to the game, the Maple Leafs announced.
Matthews suffered the injury in the second period after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas. The Anaheim captain was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Toronto capitalized on the power play, forward John Tavares scoring his 23rd goal of the season to tie the game at three.
Matthews stayed on the Scotiabank Arena ice for a while before returning to his feet. He left the ice in pain and immediately went into the dressing room. Head coach Craig Berube should provide an update on Matthews’ status after the game.
Before exiting, Matthews logged 13:18 of ice time, two shots on goal, and one hit. Matthews scored his 27th goal of the season earlier in the second period, his first time hitting twine in an NHL game since Jan. 27. The 28-year-old had gone 12 games without a goal prior to Thursday’s contest.
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Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs having off year in 2025-26
The goalless streak just about summed up Toronto’s season to date. They entered Thursday’s game 27-27-11 (65 points), last in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs are set to miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season. That was the year before Matthews arrived as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.
A lot has gone wrong this season, and it started in the offseason when Mitch Marner signed with the Vegas Golden Knights. Toronto hasn’t come close to replacing his production, and Matthews is having a down year by his standards.
With Matthews now injured, it’ll be interesting to see how Toronto handles this with only 16 games remaining in the regular season. They very well could opt to shut him down and turn the page to 2026-27. It remains to be seen, however, just how serious this injury is.