Matthews, Marner confront winner-take-all demons in Boston

The Maple Leafs held an off-ice workout and optional practice at Ford Performance Centre on Thursday. 

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.

"There's a lot of things involved in these games," said Leafs coach Craig Berube. "A lot of pride for your country, obviously, a lot of emotion. These games are intense and playing in a game like this, being in this situation, is very good for them both. Only one of them is going to win, but it's just getting a taste of what it's like."

Matthews, who is the captain of Team USA, told reporters in Boston that this game is "definitely at the top of the list" when it comes to the biggest in his career. Marner struggled to think of a comparable.

"Maybe the closest would be World Juniors when we played Finland in Finland in the quarter-finals but, I mean, that was quarter-finals," Marner told reporters in Boston.

Marner scored twice in Canada's 6-5 loss in Helsinki at the 2016 World Juniors. 

"Obviously this is a different animal," he acknowledged. 

Matthews and Marner will have to earn everything they get on Thursday night. 

"Every play matters, every shift matters, and it's tight," said Berube, who guided the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup title in 2019. "There's not a lot of room out there. You've got to work for your room, and you've got to work for everything you want to get out of the game. You've got to work for it. It's a highly competitive game."

 Matthews is expected to start the game on Team USA's second line with Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes.

"These are the games you dream of," Matthews said. "Obviously, it's a big game," Marner said. "It's been a long time since best-on-best has been played, like we've talked about, so, yeah, it's going to be a cool moment. It's going to be a lot of people watching. It's good to have support."

Matthews has yet to score in two games at the event. He's also gone six straight games without a goal with the Leafs. You have to go back to his rookie season in the NHL to find an eight-game goalless drought. 

But Matthews has been praised consistently by USA coach Mike Sullivan for leading the way with a quiet confidence. That's consistent with what the Leafs have seen during Matthews' first year wearing the 'C' in Toronto. 

"Especially in these tournaments, the best way you can lead is just through example," said Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe, who captained Team USA to a gold medal at the 2013 World Juniors. "Auston does a tremendous of that every night just through his play and through his commitment to be a 200-foot player, and elite goal scorer. Good in the faceoff circle, just all those little details he's good at, and I'm sure he's putting that on display for Team USA. I'm sure he's been great in the room too. I think he's going to have a great game tonight." 

Matthews has three assists in his six winner-take-all games with Toronto, including a helper on the Leafs only goal in the Game 7 loss last season in Boston.

"You kind of put all that stuff aside coming into this tournament, this situation," the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner said. "What's in the past is in the past. There's nothing you can change." 

Matthews picked up an assist in Team USA's gritty 3-1 win over Canada on Saturday in Montreal, which clinched his team a spot in the championship game. The 27-year-old centre sat out Monday's final round-robin game to rest an upper-body injury, which is unrelated to the issue that plagued him early in the season. 

"It was just a weird thing," Matthews said on Wednesday. "It definitely has progressed well and I'm feeling much better. There's no way that I was missing this game. I'll be ready to go."

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Marner started the tournament on Canada's top line with Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart and delivered the overtime goal in the opening game against Sweden. But the chemistry on his line never really materialized and he started Monday's must-win game against Finland on the third unit with Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel. 

"I love it," Marner said. "All of us are workhorses."

Marner and Cirelli have a built-in chemistry, because they train together in the summer. 

"They all work," Berube observed. "They're all real good defensively. They all check well, and they do provide chances. They create chances off their work. There's three good workers there, in my opinion, and three good players that know how to check."

Marner has produced just two assists in his six winner-take-all games with Toronto, but doesn't seem to be carrying the burden of those disappointments at this event.

In fact, Marner describes Team Canada's mindset as "calm and chill" ahead of the finals. 

"I don't think you can overthink it," the 27-year-old winger said. "Just another game and do your thing ... Just be ready for a grind."

Matthews and Marner will certainly be ready for a wild atmosphere inside TD Garden. The Leafs have suffered three Game 7 losses in Boston in the past seven seasons. 

"It will kind of be nice to have to have the home crowd support in this building," Matthews said with a smile. "This building gets rocking."

The rest of the Leafs will be watching on Thursday night and hoping both their teammates can harness some of the emotion.

"Hopefully they bring that energy back to us," said defenceman Chris Tanev, "and sort of springboard us to where we want to get the last two months of the season."  

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The pace and physicality of the games at the 4 Nations Face-Off has certainly translated through television sets.

"I give a lot of credit to the guys playing in this tournament," McCabe said. "Here I was sitting on the beach and they're grinding away. The best players in the world working their butts off and showing a lot of pride for their country." 

Matthews is averaging 20 minutes and 16 seconds of ice time per game, which is third among American forwards behind only Guentzel and Jack Eichel.  

Marner is averaging 17 minutes and 47 seconds of ice time per game, which is third among Canada's forwards behind only McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. 

Despite the front-line roles for both Matthews and Marner, the Leafs have no plan to give either guy a game off once they return. 

"You got somebody that's going to go in and play?" Berube responded with a laugh when asked about the possibility of a rest night. "As of right now, I mean, they're playing the game. These are big games."

The Leafs host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday before travelling to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks on Sunday. The players will get Monday off before getting right back at it with a game in Boston on Tuesday.

Starting on Saturday the Leafs will play nine games in eight different cities over 17 days. 

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The Leafs will likely be without veteran winger Max Pacioretty this weekend.

He tweaked something before practice on Wednesday and missed the workout. He skated briefly again on Thursday, but looked uncomfortable. 

"He went out and tried to do some stuff, but it was a no-go," Berube. "We'll see where he's at tomorrow."

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Berube believes Team Canada coach Jon Cooper will be rewarded for showing faith in Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, who is the only netminder to start every game for his team at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"He's always been a big-game goalie, in my opinion, for us, anyhow, when I was there," said Berube.

Binnington posted a .914 save percentage in 26 playoff games during the Blues run to the Stanley Cup in 2019. 

"I can just go in through the playoff run that year," Berube recalled. "Game 5 in Winnipeg, big win. Game 7 against Dallas at home, big win. Game 7 in Boston, big win." 

Binnington stopped 31 of 32 shots in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in Boston. 

Berube also highlighted that Binnington posted a .949 save percentage in six playoff games in 2022, which was his last taste of postseason hockey. 

Binnington's save percentage at the 4 Nations Face-Off is .892, but Berube thinks that's a bit misleading. 

"He's played pretty well," Berube said. "I mean, goals go in, right? But he's made some big saves at big times for Canada." 

Berube is confident Binnington can hold the star-studded Americans to two goals on Thursday night. The Alberta native is on the record predicting a 3-2 Canada win. 

"I am sure it is going to be a tight game," he said. "You'd think it would be, anyhow. You never know. Everybody thought the Super Bowl was going to be tight. You never know what will happen. It is why we play the games."

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Cooper is planning to deliver an inspirational message to his players prior to puck drop. 

"I have been cooking up this message for months," Cooper told reporters in Boston. "I am finally going to get to deliver it."

Berube's pre-game pep talk before Game 7 in Boston will often pop up on social media. 

"We're here for a f--king reason," Berube told his players. "Because we're a f--king good hockey team and we're going to f--king come home with the puck here tonight. Let's f--king go!"

The Blues jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period en route to a 4-1 win. 

"I didn't really think about it, to be honest," Berube said. "I went out and it came to me. I'm kind of a spur-of-the-moment guy with it a little bit. I always try to feel what our team needs at that moment. Do they need a pump-up speech? What do they need? Like, what's going into each game? And I'm sure Coop, you know, he's done this job for a long time with Tampa and stuff, he's going to come up with something good for sure."

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Leafs lines at Wednesday's practice: 
 
Knies - Jarnkrok - Robertson
McMann - Tavares - Steeves
Dewar - Holmberg - Domi
Lorentz - Kampf - Reaves
 
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Ekman-Larsson 
Benoit - Myers
Timmins - Hakanpaa
 
Stolarz, Woll