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How a series of plays from Radko Gudas eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs

By Chris Cerullo

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May 13, 2023 11:50 am

The Florida Panthers finished off the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Five of their second-round series on Friday night. The Panthers got an overtime-winning goal from forward Nick Cousins to send the Leafs packing in front of 20,000 very sad Torontonians.

Cousins may have gotten the final glory as the scorer of the eliminating goal, but it was a series of plays from defenseman Radko Gudas that created the opportunity. And, no, it didn’t involve The Cheese Wheel sitting on anyone.

Gudas kickstarts the whole play by first deftly defending a three-on-two rush by Toronto with just less than five minutes left in the first overtime frame. The puck caroms off the Czech blueliner’s stick and he’s the first to pounce on it as three Leafs players almost simultaneously fall trying to quickly turn and head the other direction.

The former Capitals defender uses that good fortune to start Florida’s own three-on-two rush towards Toronto’s net, deferring the zone entry to Cousins at center ice. Cousins skates the puck into the zone and Gudas drives hard to the net, dragging Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok, who was back trying to play defense, towards goaltender Joseph Woll.

Gudas’ light, uncalled playoff interference/holding the stick on Jarnkrok creates just enough of an opening for Cousins to cleanly curl and drag the puck into the slot and fire it past Woll’s blocker. The overtime tally sent Florida to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.

It also gave us this incredibly badass moment.

Florida is Gudas’ fourth stop in his NHL career after being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2010. He has three assists in 12 playoff games and is skating on average 17:15 per game.

The Panthers will now square off in an old fashioned all Southeast Division matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes to determine which team will come out of the East to fight for the 2023 Stanley Cup. The start date for that series is still to be determined as both Western Conference series are still ongoing.

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB

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