There can be only one winner in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game on Thursday night in Boston.
Whether it’s Mitch Marner with Canada or Auston Matthews with the United States, Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly figured both have conducted themselves properly in the event.
“To watch those guys play well and for Mitch to have his moment with the overtime goal (against Sweden) and all the rest of it, it has been really cool,” Rielly said on Wednesday. “As a group, we’re just so happy for them.
“I think we’re all cheering for our home country but, that being said, we’re just proud of those guys to go out there and represent themselves in such a great way.”
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Rielly said he hasn’t found the intensity in the tournament to be much of a revelation.
“I think there was pent-up energy from guys who haven’t had a chance to play in a tournament like this,” Rielly said. “If you polled everyone, I don’t know if everyone expected it to be like this, but there’s definitely a lot of guys who aren’t surprised by the competitiveness and the physicality. I think it’s great.”
William Nylander is back in Toronto after playing for Sweden, but was not on the ice for practice on Wednesday. The Leafs won’t practise on Thursday at the Ford Performance Centre, though Nylander could be on the ice for skate.
“I think it was a lot for him … it’s mentally tough too, these tournaments,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “There’s a lot of stress, a lot packed into it. You don’t get a break, you get right back into it. It’s tiring on the brain more than probably the body.”
With the Leafs playing host to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, is there any concern for Berube in that Matthews and Marner will have had no rest?
“I guess a little bit,” Berube said. “They have played games and they haven’t had a ton of rest.
“They’re going to get back on Friday and we have to come out of the gate. We have a game Saturday and Sunday (in Chicago against the Blackhawks). I’ll have conversations with them and see how they feel and where they’re at.”
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