BOSTON — In many ways, the poster children for the return of best-on-best hockey have long been Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.
The No. 1 picks from the 2015 and 2016 NHL drafts, respectively, McDavid and Matthews were teased with a version of it as teammates on the made-up Team North America youth squad at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. But until the 4 Nations Face-Off, they had never played for the respective countries at true best-on-best.
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And now, on Thursday night, one of them will enhance his legacy with a 4 Nations title.
Both are in the midst of writing up Hockey Hall of Fame resumes regardless of Thursday’s outcome, but for one, a significant itch will be scratched on an important stage — with so many people watching.
“I’m really excited about it,” McDavid said on the eve of the Canada-U.S. championship game.
“These are the games that you dream of,” Matthews echoed Wednesday.
Neither will have won a bigger game.
McDavid, the world No. 1, is just eight months removed from playing in the most important game of his career. It didn’t go his way. He was fully deserving of his Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP, lapping the field in playoff scoring, but his soul was crushed into a million pieces when the Edmonton Oilers fell short in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on that humid night in South Florida.
Can he use any knowledge from that experience for Thursday night?
“Obviously I was extremely disappointed to lose that game,” McDavid said. “I feel like Game 7, Stanley Cup Final, is as big a game as you’re going to play in your whole life. It’s good to be able to draw on the experience obviously, having just been there a couple of months ago. Playing in big games is something I love to do — everyone loves to do. And tomorrow is a big game.”
As painful as it was, losing in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final is an experience Matthews must be jealous of, on some level, because accomplishing it would mean his Toronto Maple Leafs actually got to a Cup Final.
Which is to say, it’s not even close. Thursday night easily is the biggest game in Matthews’ career given Toronto’s playoff struggles.
“This one will definitely be up there,” the Team USA captain said. “Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to play in a winner-take-all game (for the Stanley Cup) — obviously been in a couple of Game 7’s. But being in this situation, Canada-U.S., this is definitely at the top of the list.”
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It is also a chance for the Leafs captain to erase some demons here at TD Garden. It’s a building that has not been kind to him — the Leafs losing Game 7 here on three different occasions in 2018, 2019 and 2024.
“I think you kind of put all that stuff aside coming into this tournament, this situation,” Matthews said. “I mean what’s in the past is in the past. There’s nothing that you can change. Obviously we’ve had a lot of battles in this building.
“It’ll be nice to be on the other side of that and get the home support. You know the atmosphere is going to be great.”
Matthews has impressed his Team USA teammates during 4 Nations with his unassuming leadership. He’s not a rah-rah captain, but teammates have seen a side of him they don’t get to appreciate as NHL adversaries.
“It’s been fun, honestly — with him being the face of the franchise in Toronto, you never know what the persona is going to be, right?” Team USA blueliner Jaccob Slavin said. “But he’s a down-to-earth guy, loves the game, kind of quiet, honestly, in the locker room. But he’s a really nice guy. It’s fun to watch him on the ice — the little intricacies to his game, having to defend it at practice multiple reps at a time, right? It’s special to watch and he’s a special player.”
Team USA defenseman Adam Fox knew Matthews from the U.S. National Team Development Program, but over the past 10 days, his appreciation has also grown.
“Being in Toronto, it’s never easy,” Fox said. “The media is always looking for something. You can’t do anything right. But I think he handles it great. He’s a calm guy. Coming in here as captain, he’s a guy that commands that respect. He’s that guy that people look to on your team to lead the way. That doesn’t always have to be yelling or screaming or fighting or anything like that. I think the way he carries himself is really good to see first-hand.”
Ditto in the Team Canada dressing room. As if it’s not enough getting to look under the hood at how a legend like Sidney Crosby handles his business, the players also get to see up close what makes No. 97 tick.
“He’s a great person in the locker room, just great to talk to,” Team Canada defenseman Colton Parayko said Wednesday of McDavid. “You just watch him and he’s a true pro. Just the way that he approaches everything. His intensity, even in practice. Just little things like that. The way he warms up for practice. Just everything about him. There’s no doubt why he’s such a good player.”
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It’s uncanny, too, how McDavid and Matthews both try to steer the subject back to the team and away from themselves. Both superstars held large media sessions Wednesday, each handling numerous queries about what Thursday night might mean for him in his own career. Both found ways to stickhandle back to what it would mean for the team.
“It’s an opportunity for our group to make our country proud,” McDavid said.
Said Matthews when asked what it’s meant to be captain of this Team USA squad: “We’ve got a lot of leaders in this room. It’s just special. This group is just awesome. I think we came together early. It seemed like everybody meshed really well, and the chemistry just continues to grow.”
We, not I.
Where McDavid and Matthews certainly differ is their surrounding cast, as far as the amount of Stanley Cup pedigree in each dressing room. Team Canada has 14 Stanley Cup winners to only two for Team USA.
One couldn’t help but notice how Team Canada went about things at practice Wednesday — the look of guys who have been there before. They were all business.
McDavid can absorb a lot being around Crosby’s orbit in these moments. Three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup of Hockey championship — that’s a lot of big-game know-how.
“He’s just calm, calm in these situations,” McDavid said. “He’s got a very calming presence about him. He’s played in all these big games. Olympic gold medals. Game 7’s. Cup Finals. Whatever it is, he’s played there, been there and done that. And been successful in doing that. A guy like that, you can learn a lot from.”
And perhaps that Stanley Cup pedigree will be a factor Thursday night and Team Canada will capture its fourth consecutive best-on-best title, dating back to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
But maybe, just maybe, it’s Team USA’s time to open a whole new chapter in best-on-best with its first title since the 1996 World Cup.
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Thursday night is a gigantic opportunity on many levels for U.S. hockey.
“It means a lot to everybody — the guys in this room, the kids out there that are watching in America,” Matthews said. “Just the steps that USA Hockey has taken the last 10 to 15 years, you see the product of the guys in the NHL now. It just speaks volumes to the development program — just more reach in areas that maybe you wouldn’t expect hockey to be growing as much in.
“It’s been good to see. I know this game means a lot.”
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic, with photos by Andre Ringuette and Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
