Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews stood silently after the 4 Nations Face-Off concluded. Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid won gold for Canada

The Leafs have officially confirmed the statuses of Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews for tonight's game following the 4 Nations Face-Off break. While Mitch Marner continues to ride the high of winning the 4 Nations Face-Off with Team Canada,

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews struggled when the stakes were at their highest, going goalless in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

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 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.

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube had a bit of a chuckle on Thursday when he was asked whether he would consider giving captain Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner a rest for Toronto’s first game, on Saturday at home against the Carolina Hurricanes, following the 4 Nations Face-Off.