Craig Berube Says Maple Leafs Talk About Woeful Response to Matthews Hit ‘Almost Daily’

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube

The talk around the Toronto Maple Leafs over the 'Matthews/Gudas incident' hasn't died down yet. Specifically, it was the glaring lack of response by the Leafs when their captain and best player, Auston Matthews, was taken out with a vicious knee-on-knee hit by "The Butcher" (as Radko Gudas is known around the league).

Craig Berube says he's revisited the #leafs lack of response to the Auston Matthews hit almost daily with his team since it happened last Thursday:

"Sometimes it's a wake up call."
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 17, 2026

Head coach Craig Berube was asked if the team has talked about it internally, and he didn't mince words in his response. Yes, just about every day.

"It's something we've talked about almost daily. About getting in there for each other and being physical and hard to play against.

"Sometimes it's a wake-up call, it really is... If I look back from that game on, how competitive we've been, and how physical we've been, it's a big difference for me."

It actually started in the third period against Anaheim, after Matthews left the game following the brutal take-down in the second period. Since then, they have gotten five out of six points, including that game.

Rookie Easton Cowan said today that he learned from it (yes, he was one of those on the ice who did nothing at the time), and that was evident pretty quickly. In the third period of the game, he dropped his gloves for his first NHL fight after teammate Nick Robertson got rattled by a hard hit.

The Leafs locker room isn't the only place where the discussions about their response to Matthews are being had. The Tkachuk Brothers talked about it on their podcast which dropped on Monday, and they essentially blasted the Leafs for it.