Photo credit: Corinne Votaw-Imagn Images
Radko Gudas gave Joel Quenneville another ugly Ducks moment Sunday, and Teddy Blueger made sure it ended with Gudas on the ice.
That's why this one landed fast online.
Gudas still carries heat around the league, and a lot of that came roaring back after the knee-on-knee play that ended Auston Matthews' season in March.
So when Gudas dropped the gloves against Blueger in Anaheim, it didn't feel like some random first-period scrap.
It felt like another chapter in the Radko Gudas file.
To be fair, Gudas didn't get walked right away.
He threw back, stayed engaged, and landed enough to keep it from looking one-sided.
But Blueger finished the exchange.
That's the part fans will remember, because the last clean image was Gudas losing his edge and hitting the ice first.
That's where the reaction gets interesting.
Canucks fans loved it for the obvious reason, and plenty of Leafs fans probably enjoyed the same replay for a very different one.
Blueger grabs on, stays balanced, then snaps Gudas off-line before the Ducks defenseman drops backward to the sheet.
Blueger gave fans the ending they wanted
There's a reason this clip moved.
Blueger isn't the guy most fans circle for a heavyweight answer, yet he was the one who gave Vancouver the pushback moment.
And he did it against one of the league's most familiar agitators.
When Gudas is involved, the play rarely stays quiet for long.
That's also why this one has crossover appeal beyond Ducks-Canucks.
Toronto fans have spent the last month watching Gudas tied to the Matthews injury story, and Sunday gave them a little side satisfaction.
For Anaheim, it's another night where Gudas became the headline for the wrong reason.
Not because he fought, but because he didn't control the ending.
For Vancouver, Blueger gave the bench a jolt and gave the fan base a clip that's going to live for a while.
The punches mattered, but the finish mattered more.
That's how these moments work in hockey.
You can trade shots, hold your ground, and still lose the scene when the other guy is the one standing over the final frame.
Sunday belonged to Teddy Blueger.
And for one night, Canucks fans and Leafs fans could watch the same replay and smile.
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