This Toronto Maple Leafs News & Rumors is written the morning after the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game. It was a thrilling game, played with a ton of pride on the line for both teams.
Mitch Marner, whose fingerprints were on two goals including Connor McDavid’s winner, won the border war against Auston Matthews, in a Boston barn where Toronto was eliminated three times in a first-round Game 7 series in which he and Matthews had little consolation of being their team’s leading scorer.
In today's edition: Canada wins the 4 Nations Face-Off, Wemby's season is over, the Boston three party, MLS' 30th season kicks off, and more.
When Mitch Marner walked into the dressing room on Monday, he was greeted by Team Canada’s 20 Stanley Cups. The 4 Nations tournament puts him in a locker room he’s never experienced before—one with exceptional Stanley Cup experience.
He has played in four Stanley Cup playoff Game 7s — the games we played on the driveway as kids and in our heads at night — and he has lost all four of them.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have lost all six winner-take-all games they've played in the Stanley Cup playoffs. One of the Leafs superstars will experience what it's like to come out on top in that environment on Thursday night in Boston as Matthews leads the United States into the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game against Marner's Canada.