The rematch between Canada and the United States finally arrived on Thursday, with both teams playing against each other in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game. As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I was happy that one of Mitch Marner or Auston Matthews would finally win a high-stakes game and hoist a trophy.
The championship game had serious political undertones, with the ongoing tariffs dispute, and continued threats by President Trump and his administration over Canada becoming the 51st state. Even hours before the puck drop. Players on both teams were throwing feisty comments at each other throughout the tournament.
However, Canada won the championship in overtime at TD Gardens in a hard-fought game by both teams. Canada handed the United States their fourth loss in a row in international best-on-best tournaments. As a Canadian, with the political tension in the air, the booing of anthems in protest, and how players were handling interviews, this felt like a statement victory.
Let’s see how the Maple Leafs players performed and discuss key highlights in Canada’s 3–2 win over the United States.
Money Mitch Marner
Marner’s contract has been a point of contention this whole season for the Maple Leafs. Marner is in the final year of a six-year $10.9M AAV deal and has been magic this season. In 54 games, Marner has 71 points and is on pace for a career-high of 106 points.
But Marner, like the other Maple Leafs stars, share a common criticism. They are known to be regular season warriors but consistently come up short in the playoffs. However, Marner showed the world that hopefully this reputation will be a thing of the past.
Marner was integral to Canada tying the game 2–2 in the second period. Marner, as we’ve seen him do so often on the Maple Leafs, cuts to the middle of the zone, and deceptively finds Sam Bennett with the feed who absolutely shelfs the puck behind Connor Hellebuyck.
Then in overtime, Marner played with Connor McDavid and Brayden Point. Marner, deep in the United States zone, collects the puck from Cale Makar. Mathews failed to intercept the pass to Connor McDavid in the slot, and we now have a new golden goal:
Marner finished the tournament with one goal and two assists, despite playing on a third line with Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel in a shutdown role for half of the games. It was the clutch moments that made Marner’s tournament.
Marner scored the overtime winner against Sweden in Canada’s first game. Had Canada lost that game, as it turns out, Canada would not have made the finals. And last night, Marner assisted on the game’s tying goal and overtime winner.
If Marner continues to produce in these critical moments and leads the Maple Leafs through a deep playoff run, Marner will be paid bank. With the cap increasing to $113.5M in 2027–28, eight years at $12M–$14M AAV seems likely.
Captain America falls short
Auston Matthews, the captain for the United States also had a decent game against Canada. Mathews assisted on the 1–1 goal scored by Brady Tkachuk, which at that point energized a fairly quiet TD Garden late in the first. He also assisted on Jake Sanderson’s goal just over mid-way through the second period to give the United States a 2–1 lead.
Matthews was also dangerous all night in the offensive zone, notably in overtime. However, Jordan Binnington showed why he won a Stanley Cup in 2019. Binnington made several great saves when it looked like the United States was going to win the game in overtime, including this sequence on Matthews:
Matthews finished the tournament with three points, all of which were assists. This included missing one game due to a minor injury as a precaution. However, as with the playoff performances for the Maple Leafs, Matthews continues to not score goals in big moments. Matthews scored only one goal in five playoff games last season against the Boston Bruins. Is Auston Matthews cursed at TD Gardens?
Despite not lighting it up offensively as some would have expected, or wanted, Matthews was very solid defensively. In the games he played, he often broke up plays, intercepted passes, and was aggressive on the forecheck. But unfortunately, these defensive effort is overshadowed by not scoring when your team needs a goal in the big moments.
Passing of the torch
Everyone in Canada remembers Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in the 2010 Olympics in overtime against the United States in Vancouver. There are very few Canadian hockey players who are as decorated at the international level as Crosby is.
Crosby had the passion throughout the entire tournament as expected from your captain. He finished the tournament with one goal, and four assists tying him for second with five points in the tournament. Who was he tied with? Connor McDavid.
McDavid’s tournament stats are almost opposite to Crosby’s stats—finishing the tournament with three goals and two assists. McDavid also came up big scoring one goal in each of the last three games in the tournament. With how he was skating on the ice, and the passion he had when giving interviews, you can tell McDavid has wanted to represent his country in an international best-on-best tournament for a while.
Fifteen years later, McDavid now has a golden goal of his own. It is almost poetic. For the 2026 Olympics, McDavid has to be the front-runner for team captain. So was this Crosby, who captained Team Canada to another victory, metaphorically passing the torch?
Way forward
The 4 Nations Face-Off tournament was far more successful than the All-Star Game that it replaced this year. An international best-on-best competition was missing from the NHL for nearly a decade, and it showed. Fans for all four teams were cheering their teams on passionately, and the NHL finally discovered a way to expand the game to garner new fans (and bring in more revenue).
Both nations were fighting for hockey supremacy. The United States has closed the talent gap between Canada and the United States in recent years by notably developing very good hockey players, most of which were featured in the championship game.
However, the United States will have to wait until the next international best-on-best competition to prove that they are the superior hockey nation. The next international best-on-best competition is the 2026 Winter Olympics where NHL players will take part for the first time in the Olympics since the 2014 Winter Olympics. The United States will be looking for revenge, and I am sure that the game between these two hockey nations will be electric.
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