Radko Gudas suited up for the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night despite not being 100 percent healthy. The rugged defenseman, who ended Auston Matthews‘ season after a dirty knee-on-knee hit earlier in the month, wanted to play against the Toronto Maple Leafs to “stand behind my own mistakes. I want to address it myself.”
And address it he did.
Leafs head coach Craig Berube gave Gudas a buffet of pugilists to pick from during the opening faceoff, icing Michael Pezzetta, Max Domi, Dakota Joshua, Simon Benoit, and Brandon Carlo, who combined had over 40 regular-season fights in their careers.
Gudas ended up dropping the gloves with Domi, a veteran of 15 career bouts, three seconds into the game.
An inspired Domi landed 10 consecutive punches, including a final sucker punch while Gudas was down on the ice, to win the fight decisively.
Despite absorbing all that punishment, Gudas looked absolutely no worse for wear in the penalty box as several of his teammates went over to salute him. Meanwhile, Domi taunted the Ducks’ bench before being sent to his room.
In total, the first period of Ducks-Leafs featured 22 penalty minutes, 24 hits, and two Leafs crashing into each other as they tried to go for a big hit.
The Leafs continued to look for a pound of flesh in the second period. Pezzetta tackled Gudas along the end boards, earning a two-minute roughing penalty. He was then leveled a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct for abuse of officials after pushing the linesman as he continued to go after Gudas while being separated.
Jake McCabe tried to get his own licks in on Gudas, taking a pot shot at the defenseman and ripping his helmet off after a whistle. Both players earned a double-minor for roughing while McCabe got an extra 10-minute misconduct.
Domi later got in his second fight of the game, dropping the gloves with Pavel Mintyukov.
Through two periods, the two teams have combined for 81 penalty minutes. Pezzetta leads all players with 22 PIMs.
