Marner vs Matthews: Which Maple Leafs teammate will outperform the other at 4 Nations Face-Off?

Credit: © Geoff Burke

Canada and USA take the ice on Saturday night, in what is setting up to be a historic game. While there’s certainly several storylines to follow throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, one of the most entertaining to watch will be the battle between Toronto Maple Leafs teammates, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.

Marner enters the tournament as the Maple Leafs’ leading scorer, posting an impressive 71 points in 54 games. Meanwhile, Matthews has battled an upper-body injury throughout the season, and was questionable for the tournament just a few weeks ago. The American and Leafs’ captain has scored 20 goals, and 45 points in 40 games so far this year.

From linemates, to country rivals, the battle between Marner and Matthews is going to be pulling Leafs’ fans in opposite directions. On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli were live from the 4 Nations in Montreal, and dove into what to expect out of the Marner vs. Matthews matchup.

Yaremchuk: We talked a lot about how Crosby gets to play with MacKinnon, Hughes and Matthews, and all these different combinations, but, what about those teammates who are now on opposite sides. I have a couple of questions for you that involve those situations, including Auston Matthews vs Mitch Marner.

Matthews playing with Jack Hughes, Marner will be a on a line with Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart. If you had to pick between these two, who do you think finishes the tournament with more points?

Seravalli: I would go Marner. Look, I know Auston Matthews hasn’t been at his best this season, by his own standards, the injury has been a significant one. And, even when he’s played, he just really hasn’t passed the eye test. Be curious to see if he gets some of that swagger back in a tournament like this, that’s kind of been missing.

Marner has been the Leafs’ unquestioned MVP this year. And, not only that, but takes another step forward playing with players like this in this tournament. So, you’re talking about the elite one percenters, and I have a feeling with his poise and the way he can manage the puck is going to be critically important for Canada. So, I’m going to go Marner here in this situation.

For more on what to expect from Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden these next two weeks, watch the full episode with wall-to-wall 4 Nations previewing below: