Best Leafs goals of 2024-25: Max Domi undresses Radko Gudas for filthy backhand vs. Ducks

Originally posted on TheLeafsnation | By Alex Hobson | Last updated Aug 4, 2025 8:00 AM ET

One of the players who has turned into a villain that people love to hate in Leafs land is Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas. It may seem like a little bit of an odd stray, given that he plays for a team in a conference that sees him play the Leafs only twice per season, but of course, it wasn’t the Anaheim days that spurred this drama.

Gudas spent two years with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and the latter year, of course, was the Maple Leafs’ first run-in with the Panthers in the playoffs. Gudas was all over the place trying to get under the skin of Leafs players, and a photo of him screaming in Joseph Woll’s face after the Panthers clinched the second round against Toronto essentially summed up why Leafs fans don’t like Gudas.

As the Panthers & Leafs meet for the first time since Game 5, Paul Maurice reflects on when Radko Gudas yelled in Joseph Woll's face. ️ pic.twitter.com/m3j74tfKqD

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 19, 2023

Fast forward to March 30 of this season, the Leafs are in Anaheim to close out their California road trip following a shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks and a win over the Los Angeles Kings. Calle Jarnkrok carried the puck into the zone on an odd-man rush and left it for Domi, who picked it up and broke Gudas’ ankles en route to a filthy backhand goal against the Ducks to open the scoring. The Leafs would go on to win the game 3-2.

It’s also worth remembering that Domi has a little bit of history with Gudas himself. He wasn’t on the 2022-23 Leafs team when Gudas was captured screaming in Woll’s face, but you’d think he was with the animosity that came when the two dropped the gloves in 2023-24.

Although Domi has his setbacks defensively and his inconsistency offensively, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is never afraid to take on a tough customer in a fight just to show the rest of his team that he cares. For him to score such a beauty and make somebody like Gudas look like an amateur in the process garnered including that goal on this list, even if it would place in the lower echelon in terms of importance.

This article first appeared on TheLeafsnation and was syndicated with permission.

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