‘Gotta have a better response”: Tkachuk brothers criticize Leafs’ reaction to Matthews hit
More players continue to join in on the conversation surrounding the lack of response from the Toronto Maple Leafs after the knee-on-knee hit laid on captain Auston Matthews.
This time, it’s Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk and Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk. The two brothers weighed in on the topic on their podcast Wingmen on Monday, and like most of the hockey world, they did not agree with the Leafs not sticking up for their captain and star player after Radko Gudas laid out the hit on Thursday.
“If you go after our best players, we're going after your best players.” Matthew and Brady give their take on Radko Gudas’ hit on Auston Matthews.
“It’s an unwritten rule,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “If your captain or best player of the team, and [he] loses an edge, you’re going after somebody.”
While there were a couple of scraps and big hits in the third period of their 6-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks, and Leafs like William Nylander and Morgan Rielly brushed off the problem, claiming they didn’t get a good look at the hit, the damage was done. The Leafs failed to respond in the immediate aftermath, and a rough season stooped to a new low with how poorly the team looked in that moment.
“Your captain gets taken out like that, you gotta have a way better response,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I know how I’d feel if I got hit like that and nobody really jumped in there. I’d be pretty pissed.”
Despite the Tkachuk brothers playing for two rival teams of Matthews’ Leafs, both showed their support for the captain and how he deserved better in that moment. Considering the brothers played alongside Matthews on route to a gold medal win in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, they have some experience together.
“I know Auston’s personality, and how much he’s a gamer, and we saw it firsthand at Milan,” Matthew Tkachuk. “If somebody went after somebody on his team, and he saw it, he’d be right in there too. And he’s the last guy that needs to be doing that with being that unreal player.”
As a result of the hit, Matthews will be out of the Leafs lineup for the rest of the regular season.