Gudas contributing more to Panthers' Cup run than big beard, physicality

SUNRISE, Fla. --What stands out most about Radko Gudas are his crunching hits and impressive beard. According to Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice, there's a correlation.

"Radko's beard actually is part of him hitting," Maurice said of the 33-year-old defenseman Friday. "His weight is tied into the beard. His beard weighs 103 pounds. I'm not even sure if that's legal. There's probably a chance now the refs are going to go through his beard."

Joking aside, Gudas is enjoying his beard at full power -- and the longest he has grown it -- because he is playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time. He hopes to get to grow it a little longer with the Panthers trailing the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 4 at FLA Live Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET: TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS), but things are looking up after their 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 on Thursday.

"The reasons why is the only reason why I enjoy it right now," Gudas said of the length of his beard. "Usually, I would trim it a little bit. It gets in the way of eating. That's definitely not what you want, but it's for the sake of the bigger goal."

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Gudas' beard probably shouldn't be classified as a Stanley Cup Playoff beard because he wears one throughout the season and usually has some type of facial hair.

"I haven't gone full-on shaved in years now," he said.

Gudas did go briefly without a beard at the start of last summer, but kept a mustache. That decision was influenced by his three children -- son Kvido and daughters Leontynka and Elvira.

"I just felt like doing it," Gudas said. "I kept a mustache. The kids wanted to take a little part in shaving too, so it was like a family decision more than my decision."

Whenever Gudas does shave (he first shaved when he was in seventh grade), his beard grows back quickly. But a 103-pound beard would make up roughly half of his listed weight of 208 pounds.

Maybe it doesn't play a role in Gudas' effectiveness as a hitter, as Maurice joked, but the impact he has with his physical play is undeniable.

Gudas leads the NHL with 83 hits in the playoffs after being second in the League with 312 during the regular season, second behind Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn, who had 318.

"You talk about the glue guys, and he's one of those guys that just goes under the radar," Florida radio analyst and former Panthers forward Bill Lindsay said. "He's really important in that dressing room and you can tell that he's one of those unifying factors with the leadership. So he has a beard, and he has a presence."

That presence was welcomed by Florida in Game 3 after Gudas left in the first period of a 7-2 loss in Game 2 becaused of an undisclosed injury, sustained on a hit from Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. Gudas said he felt "great" Friday and the Game 3 victory helped him feel even better.

"It was a great team effort, a great team victory, so it always helps to [soothe] the little bumps and bruises when you win," he said. "So I'll take the positive with me today and the trainers are great working with me, so I'm feeling pretty well."

Though the Panthers focused less on hitting and more on their defensive structure in Game 3 -- dropping from 44 hits in Game 2 to 14 -- Gudas still had two hits and played his usual solid defensive game alongside partner Josh Mahura.

"We still played physical," Gudas said. "We still had a lot of bumps on them. Maybe not as forceful hits as they were before, but they were still pretty solid, you know. We're trying to stay as physical as possible throughout the whole game, so it's not a message to play physical or not play physical. If it's there, then, yes, take it, [but] don't go out of the way to get thrown out of position."

Gudas said no one told him, "Don't hit anybody." And as Florida center Eric Staal noted, "You can't tell 'Gudi' not to hit."

Maurice said Gudas' value defensively and importance to the Panthers goes beyond his big hits and big beard, anyway.

"Radko Gudas is a far more tactical player and systematically bright player than people would understand," Maurice said. " … If you watch his game and you understand the systems that we're running, he just doesn't make a lot of mistakes. It's part of the reason why Josh Mahura comes off waivers and doesn't come out of the lineup again. He's a wonderfully consistent mentor because he also plays at the same intensity every night.

"You don't get to sit beside Radko on the bench and think, 'Maybe I'll just go half speed tonight and I'm not feeling it tonight,' because Radko is not going to allow that, but not in a, 'Hey, kid, I'll club you if you don't get moving.' (It's) more, 'We've got to go. We've got to be better.' So he has this very strong technical play, but also very strong personality."