Canada beat the USA in the record-breaking 4 Nations Face-Off championship game with Toronto Maple Leafs teammates Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews squaring off against each other on international ground.
Marner hoisted the trophy after assisting Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid's game-winning goal in overtime, giving Canada a 3-2 victory over the frustrated Americans.
After facing off as rivals in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, per TSN's Mark Masters, Marner and Matthews shared a flight home from Boston.
The two Maple Leafs stars exchanged thoughts on the new tournament and looked ahead to Toronto’s playoff push, Marner revealed on Saturday.
“We were just talking about the tournament, how much fun it was, but how taxing it was also on the body,” Marner said. “Talked about looking forward to getting back to here and trying to take on bigger things now.”
Matthews, who captained Team USA, didn't score any goal but notched three assists in three games, including two in the final. Marner, meanwhile, also finished with three points split into one goal and two assists.
Despite the bitter ending for Matthews, Marner had nothing but praise for his teammate, as he told reporters after the final, per The Hockey News.
“He played a great game tonight. He’s--I mean, what a warrior he was tonight, again, in this whole tournament,” Marner said. “It’s always fun competing against him. He’s such a competitor, such a great player.
”I’m very fortunate to be on his line and play with him a lot.”
Matthews acknowledged the disappointment but said he’s already shifted his focus back to Toronto and the Maple Leafs' second half of the season, per Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan.
“I think (losing) is part of life. It’s not always going to work out in your favor. For me, it sucks, but there’s nothing that I can do to fix that now,” Matthews said. “It definitely still stings. But you have to flip the page here.
”Got to get focus back, happy to be back here with the team, see the guys again after a couple weeks and just keep pushing.”
The Maple Leafs have returned strong from the break, going 2-0 in their two games last weekend putting up back-to-back wins over Carolina on Saturday and Chicago on Sunday.
Toronto leads the Atlantic Division with a 35-20-2 record and 72 points, one more than Florida (71) with a game in hand over the Panthers too.
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