TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the NHL season.
The team provided an injury update Friday night, a little under 24 hours since Matthews was knocked out of a game against Anaheim on a knee-on-knee hit from Radko Gudas.
Click to Gallery
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, center, is helped off the ice after being injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) and Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas (7) lay on the ice after colliding during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) is helped off the ice after being injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, left, is injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) is injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas (7) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
The Leafs said Matthews has a Grade 3 MCL tear and a bruised quadriceps muscle and would be evaluated again in two weeks. Gudas was suspended five games for kneeing, the maximum the league's Department of Safety could levy because his hearing was by phone.
Matthews' agent, Judd Moldaver said in a statement that “in light of the obvious severity of the play, I am very disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling.” Moldaver took issue with the decision to limit the suspension to five games.
In game, Gudas was given a major penalty and ejected.
“Dirty play,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said Thursday night. “League’s going to obviously look at it and see what the suspension will be or whatever happens.”
Trying to make a move around Gudas in the slot in the second period of Toronto’s 6-4 victory, Matthews stook a direct blow to his left leg and crashed to the ice. The U.S. Olympic captain stayed down before being helped to the locker room.
Gudas is the bruising Czech defender who ended Canadian captain Sidney Crosby’s Olympics in the quarterfinals with a hit.
“He’s done a few of those before in his career,” Toronto winger Matthew Knies said.
Gudas was asked following Anaheim’s morning skate about trying to contain Matthews.
“We go to be on top of him,” Gudas said. “We got to make sure that he doesn’t get space in the middle of the ice … make his night’s not enjoyable.”
Ducks coach Joel Quenneville defended his player.
“There’s no premeditation,” Quenneville said. “Reflexes did it.”
Matthews snapped a 12-game goal drought earlier in the period on a power play. He had 27 goals and 26 assists in 60 games this season.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, center, is helped off the ice after being injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) and Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas (7) lay on the ice after colliding during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) is helped off the ice after being injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, left, is injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) is injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas (7) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices dropped more than 10% Friday, and U.S. stocks raced toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is open again for commercial tankers carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
The S&P 500 leaped 1.3% as Wall Street rallied to the finish of a third straight week of big gains, its longest streak since Halloween. A freer flow of oil would take pressure off prices not only for gasoline but also for groceries and all kinds of other products that get moved by vehicles. It could even ultimately help people pay less on credit-card interest or mortgage bills.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly climbed nearly 1,070 points and was up 978 points, or 2%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher
The U.S. stock market has jumped more than 12% since hitting a bottom in late March on hopes the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy despite their war. Friday’s reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which may only be temporary, is the clearest signal yet for optimism, and President Donald Trump said late Thursday that the war “should be ending pretty soon.”
The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude plunged immediately after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that the passage for all commercial vessels through the strait “is declared completely open” as a ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire, and U.S. oil tumbled 10.8% to $81.38 per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 10.5% to $88.96 per barrel. To be sure, it remains above its $70 price from before the war, indicating some caution is still embedded in financial markets.
Several times since the war began, optimism on Wall Street has quickly swung to doubt about a possible end to the fighting. That in turn has caused vicious and sudden swings of prices for everything from stocks to bonds to oil.
Minutes after the Iranian foreign minister’s announcement of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on his social media network that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports remains “in full force” until both sides reach a deal on the war. He, though, also said that “should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated” and emphasized it by using all capital letters.
Companies with big fuel bills soared to some of Wall Street’s biggest gains following the easing of oil prices.
United Airlines surged 8.8%. On Thursday, the head of the International Energy Agency had said that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies.
Operators of cruise ships, which guzzle fuel, also steamed higher. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 7.8%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 9.5%.
Housing and auto-related companies also got some relief from the drop in oil prices.
With less threat of high inflation hurting the economy, a sustained drop in oil prices could convince the Federal Reserve to resume its cuts to interest rates to invigorate the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.23% from 4.32% late Thursday, and lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses.
Builders FirstSource, a supplier of windows and other products, rose 7.1%, and homebuilder Lennar gained 5.7% on hopes that lower mortgage rates will spur more people to buy houses. Carvana climbed 9.2% because lower loan rates can get more customers into new autos.
A strong start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has also helped to support the U.S. stock market, and several more financial companies joined the list of companies delivering bigger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected.
State Street rose 4.6%, and Fifth Third Bancorp added 1.9% after both reported better results for the latest quarter than expected.
They helped offset a 9.9% drop for Netflix, which fell even though it likewise delivered a better profit than expected. It did not raise its forecast for revenue growth for the full year, which analysts said may have disappointed some investors.
It also said Reed Hastings, cofounder and chairman of the streaming company, will step down from its board of directors in June when his term expires.
In stock markets abroad, stock indexes leaped in Europe following Iran’s announcement about the Strait of Hormuz. France’s CAC 40 jumped 2%, and Germany’s DAX returned 2.3%.
In Asia, where trading finished for the day before the announcement, indexes were weaker. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.8%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% for two of the bigger losses.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
