Experience with Leafs has prepared Matthews for Captain America role

Team USA and Team Finland practised at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard, Que. on Wednesday.

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Playing in the centre of the hockey universe has prepared Leafs centre Auston Matthews to lead the United States on the world stage.

"Playing in Toronto, I've loved my time there," Matthews said. "It comes with a lot of stuff like this, and a lot of responsibility but, you know, I love it."

Matthews has ridden the rollercoaster in Toronto since being drafted first overall in 2016. Now, he'll captain America for the first time at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

"Being able to play in a tournament like this, a situation like this with the great players and representing your country, it means a lot," Matthews said. "The pressure and stuff is just kind of what comes with it."

Team USA opens its tournament on Thursday against Finland. Expectations are sky-high for the Americans who are hoping to usher in a new era in international hockey after watching Canada win the gold medal at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup.

"These are the moments that you dream of and think about when you're a young kid playing hockey," said Matthews, who hasn't worn his country's colours since the 2016 World Championship.

"So, just embracing that, embracing everything that comes with it and enjoying it, making the most of it, because you don't know how many opportunities like this you're going to get."

Matthews is an established superstar in the NHL. He's claimed the Hart Trophy once and the Rocket Richard Trophy three times. Since he entered the league, no one has scored more goals than Matthews.

"He's not an overly vocal guy, but when he speaks he commands a lot of respect," said USA head coach Mike Sullivan, who led the Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cups. "Everyone has an incredible amount of respect for what he's accomplished in the game. He's a terrific player. He's one of the elite players in the game. He's a quiet leader and he's embraced that role for our team. He's doing a terrific job for us."

Playoff success has proven elusive in Toronto where the Leafs have just one series win since Matthews arrived, but there's no doubt among his new teammates that he's the best man to lead the United States back into best-on-best hockey.

As part of the opening ceremony on Wednesday night, Matthews smiled as the Montreal fans rained booed his introduction.

"He loves the big moments," said centre Jack Eichel, who won a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. "Our team's going to go as he goes. He's one of the most prolific goal scorers in our league right now and just leads by example."

"He has a motor that never stops," said Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy, who has been on the winning side of the handshake line in three series against Matthews in the NHL. "You combine that with just world-class skill and talent and being elite at everything you do, you get a special player, and that's Auston Matthews. For me, it's his work ethic that sets him apart and what will make him a good leader. We can go as he goes and we can follow him into the fight."  

Matthews is already setting the tone in practice. He looks locked in.

"Not just doing it right, but really emulating a game situation," said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.  

"When you watch him on the ice, it's hard not to follow him," said Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Zach Werenski. "When you see it up close every day, it's a whole new level and I feel like for guys to see that and follow that and for him to lead by example like that, it’s been awesome."

Adam Fox appreciates how Matthews provides feedback but also positive reinforcement during the workouts.

"He's never going to really seem like the rah-rah guy and yell at you, at least in the practices here," the New York Rangers defenceman said, "but the way he is on the ice, the way he is in the locker room, the way around the hotel and everything, he just kind of commands the respect."

"He carries himself with such humility," Sullivan observed. "I think the best way he leads, in my observation, has been how he carries himself on the ice, how he carries himself off the ice."

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Finland's Aleksander Barkov also considers himself a lead-by-example guy.

"There's a reason why they chose him as a captain or why they chose me as the captain," the Florida Panthers centre said. "You've done something right and there's no need to change to anything. Just be yourself and lead the way you are."

That philosophy worked out well for Barkov last spring when he led the Panthers to the franchise's first championship.

Barkov also collected his second Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward last season. He'll likely see a lot of Matthews on Thursday night when the Finns will be designated the home team and have the last-change advantage.

"He's one of the best players in the world so you have to be ready every single time you go against him," Barkov said. "He has  incredible skill. He can score. He can make plays. Yeah, you have to be ready all the time when you play against him."

Barkov was a big reason why Matthews was held without a goal in the five game playoff series between the Leafs and Panthers in 2023.

"He's probably been the best two-way guy in the league for the last couple years," Matthews said. "You know, not really an underrated guy anymore. He's very, very well known. You gotta watch out for him out there and he's just solid on both ends of the puck. He's big. He's strong. He's got a long reach, long stick. Great in the faceoff circle. He anticipates the play well. Obviously, offensively he’s got a ton of skill as well. He's always a challenge to go up against and a guy we'll be keying on."

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Matthews arrived in Montreal having gone six games without a goal. But he scored twice in his last game against Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros, who will start for Finland. Matthews has four goals in four career games against Saros.

"Everybody knows what kind of goal scorer he is and a really smart player on top of that too," Saros said. "He can make plays and he can obviously shoot better than anyone. So, yeah, special player."

Saros lost five straight starts with the Predators heading into the 4 Nations event with his save percentage dipping to .899 on the season.

"He's experienced," stressed Finnish coach Antti Pennanen. "During this season, of course, he's had some difficulties also, but we trust him. He's a really good goalie. We have three good goalies and it wasn't an easy call."

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Matthews will start the tournament on a line with Tampa Bay Lightning winger Jake Guentzel and New Jersey Devils centre Jack Hughes, who is shifting to the wing.

Matthews says Hughes is one of his favourite players to watch.

"He just seems to always have a puck on a string," Matthews noted. "When he skates it's like he's so smooth. It's like he's just hovering over the ice similar to some of these top guys like [Connor] McDavid and [Nathan] MacKinnon. The way they skate it's like effortless. That's how I view him."

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Team USA will start Vezina Trophy frontrunner Connor Hellebuyck, who leads the NHL in goals-against average (2.06) and save percentage (.925).

"He's such a competitor in net," Matthews said. "I think he reads and anticipates the play as good as anyone in the league and he's never out of a play either. You think you have him and he's so athletic. He's able to sprawl out, make a last-second save and just put himself in position to maybe get a piece of the puck. Just watching him and interacting with him, he's extremely focused, and seeing him in net he's so composed. It's cool to be on the same team with him."

Asked who will be the MVP of the tournament if Team USA wins, Matthews didn't want to name anyone in particular, but stressed that events like this often come down to goaltending and special teams.

Matthew Tkachuk, meanwhile, didn't shy away from making a prediction. The Panthers winger named Hellebuyck as his choice for MVP should the Americans win it all.

"He's incredible," the older Tkachuk brother enthused. "He's so big in there, so calm. He just plays so simple. I just know, playing against him for a lot of years, it's so hard to score on him. You don't see any net with him. He's so big in there. Seeing him in practice and shooting on him more than in games, he's the real deal. We're super lucky to have him as the backbone."

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While Matthews and Leafs teammate William Nylander, who plays for Team Sweden, were booed on Wednesday night, Mitch Marner finally got some love inside the Bell Centre. And he certainly earned it. The Leafs winger scored the overtime winner as Canada defeated Sweden 4-3.

"Tried to just really enjoy that moment after, to be honest," he said. "The building was rocking. It was nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me."

Asked what a goal like this can do for Marner, who has been criticized at times for his playoff performances with the Leafs, Team Canada coach Jon Cooper objected to the idea the 27-year-old winger required a boost.

"That kid oozes confidence," Cooper said. "I thought it was a big-time player, making a big-time play at a big-time moment. That's why Canada has him on this team. He was fabulous."

Making the moment extra special for Marner was the fact that Sidney Crosby picked up the primary assist on the play. Marner grew up idolizing the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, who scored the golden goal at the 2010 Olympics before captaining Canada to a title at the 2014 Olympics and 2016 World Cup.

"You tell eight- or 10-year-old Mitch that he's scoring an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby, a guy he looked up since day one, yeah, it's pretty crazy," Marner said. "I'm sure my family's gonna be very excited about that one, and it's gonna be a really cool thing to have now."

Marner's parents, brother and wife were in the stands to watch the game.

What will his dad think?

"He's going to be pumped as s--t," Marner said to laughs. "He's going to be going nuts for sure. Yeah, it's going to be really cool to see him to, you know, hear what him and my mom are going to say about that. I mean, ever since Day 1, as I've spoken all week, it's 87, that's all I wore growing up, that's all I cheered for and, yeah, it’s a really cool, surreal, pinch-me moment there for sure. It’s something I'll always be grateful for."

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There were other surreal moments for Marner on Wednesday night as he enjoyed playing best-on-best hockey for the first time. It was the fastest game he's ever played.

"Definitely," he confirmed. "The first period, the first real 10 minutes ... you're kind of sitting there catching your breath every single time you got off with the pace out there, with the intensity. Yeah, it was pretty special."

Marner wasn't just playing with Crosby, but also with longtime rival Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins. They were actually partners on Canada's second penalty-kill unit.

"He's very vocal out there and so am I," Marner said. "We can work off each other very well and that's something you appreciate. Both of us have great instincts and both are very quick on our feet. Obviously, we didn't really have to defend too much in our zone on that one, but we were communicating, we were talking, we were figuring stuff out and that's what you like."

Marner played on a line with Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid, his former minor and junior hockey rival, and Panthers winger Sam Reinhart. That trio was held off the board in 5-on-5 play. Reinhart landed three shots on net, Marner had two and McDavid had just one.

"We stayed patient with our game," Marner said. "I thought in the first, we had a lot of good looks. We had a lot of good O-zone plays. Second, I think maybe we sat back a little too much or just, you know, didn't create enough, but I thought we defended well. And then the third, I mean, we just tried to keep our feet going, tried to communicate a lot in the locker room before going out there, just where we wanted pucks, where we wanted plays to go. And I thought we worked a couple of good O-zone shifts, especially late in the third there to kind of hem them in."

One adjustment Marner wants to make is getting the puck up high in the offensive zone and sending it towards the net so that Reinhart can use his tipping ability.

On the other side, Marner was facing Nylander for the first time since the 2017 World Championship. Back then Marner was stopped on the final shootout attempt in the gold-medal game and watched as Nylander celebrated and was named MVP.

Did the pair share any moments on Wednesday night?

"Caught each other's eyes a couple times," Marner said. "He was pretty quiet. I was saying a couple things, but he was keeping it pretty quiet."

Marner smiled.

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Projected USA lineup for Thursday's game:

Connor - Eichel - M. Tkachuk
Guentzel - Matthews - Hughes
B. Tkachuk - Miller- Boldy
Nelson - Trocheck - Larkin

Slavin - Fox
Werenski - McAvoy
Hanifin - Faber

Hellebuyck starts

Projected power-play units for Team USA:

QB: Fox
Flanks: Eichel, Matthews
Middle: Guentzel
Net front: M. Tkachuk

QB: Werenski
Flanks: Connor, Hughes
Middle: Boldy
Net front: B. Tkachuk