Despite some mixed emotions about the inaugral 4 Nations tournament, the new best-on-best event has proven to be a massive success so far. Each game has featured theatrics of some sort, whether that be in the form of thrilling overtime-winning goals or a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/team-usa-edges-team-canada-3-1-in-an-instant-classic-at-the-4-nations-face-off">boxing event</a> at a hockey game.
The Leafs have representation on three of the four countries at the tournament, with Mitch Marner and Team Canada set to face off against Auston Matthews and Team USA in the final on Thursday night. William Nylander&#8217;s Swedes had a disappointing tournament, falling in overtime to both Canada and Finland before defeating the USA in what was essentially a meaningless game with the final already set in stone.
On the latest edition of Daily Faceoff Live, brought to you by our friends at Daily Faceoff, DFO senior insider Frank Seravalli criticized the performances of the three Leaf forwards for not putting themselves at the head of the pack at any point, or &#8220;dominating&#8221; in his words. Host Tyler Yaremchuk was quick to point out Matthews&#8217; defensive performance in the tournament, but Seravalli intervened.
<blockquote>&#8220;Don&#8217;t do it. I don&#8217;t want to hear about good defensive play,&#8221; Seravalli said. &#8220;That&#8217;s not why he&#8217;s getting paid. He hasn&#8217;t scored yet. But he hasn&#8217;t scored yet. And beyond that, he has had some moments, hit at least three posts. So he&#8217;s had looks, but he hasn&#8217;t dominated. And that&#8217;s the one thing you&#8217;re looking for with these guys. Connor McDavid has had stretches where he&#8217;s flat-out dominated. Nathan McKinnon has had stretches where he&#8217;s dominated. Cale Makar did the same thing on Monday against Finland. He has dominated.&#8221;I haven&#8217;t seen that from Matthews. Haven&#8217;t seen that from Marner. And definitely didn&#8217;t see that from Nylander.&#8221;</blockquote>
Nylander finished his tournament with two assists in three games, while Matthews notched one assist in two games before sitting the USA&#8217;s final game against Sweden to rest an upper-body injury. To Marner&#8217;s credit, he scored the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mitch-marner-scores-ot-winner-canada-thrilling-win-sweden-4-nations-face-off">overtime-winning goal</a> against Sweden to open the tournament, but it&#8217;s his only point of the tournament so far and it came at 3-on-3, which furthers Frank&#8217;s point about not having shown up and dominated in playoff games.
<blockquote>&#8220;When you&#8217;re talking about that level of player, and you&#8217;re talking about dispelling the notion that in big moments, you&#8217;re going to rise to the very top,&#8221; Seravalli continued. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think anyone&#8217;s done enough to create an argument that they&#8217;re going to take something from this tournament and apply it to a Toronto Maple Leafs playoff run. However, there is one game left. It&#8217;s the most important game. You find a way in that game, maybe they totally flip the narrative.&#8221;</blockquote>
While Nylander won&#8217;t be able to redeem himself since Sweden has been sent packing, Matthews and Marner will both have a good opportunity to shun the notion that they don&#8217;t show up in big, meaningful games. And if it&#8217;s anything like Canada vs. USA was in the round robin, fans are in for a treat.
You can watch the full video below:
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff Live</a> is on the road! From February 10th to 20th, we’re bringing you live shows every weekday straight from Four Nations, delivering exclusive coverage, insider analysis, and all the tournament action as it unfolds. Don’t miss a beat—subscribe to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff YouTube channel</a> and follow us on social for the latest updates. It’s international hockey, so expect intensity, excitement, and maybe even a little chaos. Stay locked in and catch us live from Four Nations!

Despite some mixed emotions about the inaugral 4 Nations tournament, the new best-on-best event has proven to be a massive success so far. Each game has featured theatrics of some sort, whether that be in the form of thrilling overtime-winning goals or a <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/team-usa-edges-team-canada-3-1-in-an-instant-classic-at-the-4-nations-face-off">boxing event</a> at a hockey game.

The Leafs have representation on three of the four countries at the tournament, with Mitch Marner and Team Canada set to face off against Auston Matthews and Team USA in the final on Thursday night. William Nylander's Swedes had a disappointing tournament, falling in overtime to both Canada and Finland before defeating the USA in what was essentially a meaningless game with the final already set in stone.

On the latest edition of Daily Faceoff Live, brought to you by our friends at Daily Faceoff, DFO senior insider Frank Seravalli criticized the performances of the three Leaf forwards for not putting themselves at the head of the pack at any point, or "dominating" in his words. Host Tyler Yaremchuk was quick to point out Matthews' defensive performance in the tournament, but Seravalli intervened.
<blockquote>"Don't do it. I don't want to hear about good defensive play," Seravalli said. "That's not why he's getting paid. He hasn't scored yet. But he hasn't scored yet. And beyond that, he has had some moments, hit at least three posts. So he's had looks, but he hasn't dominated. And that's the one thing you're looking for with these guys. Connor McDavid has had stretches where he's flat-out dominated. Nathan McKinnon has had stretches where he's dominated. Cale Makar did the same thing on Monday against Finland. He has dominated."I haven't seen that from Matthews. Haven't seen that from Marner. And definitely didn't see that from Nylander."</blockquote>
Nylander finished his tournament with two assists in three games, while Matthews notched one assist in two games before sitting the USA's final game against Sweden to rest an upper-body injury. To Marner's credit, he scored the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/mitch-marner-scores-ot-winner-canada-thrilling-win-sweden-4-nations-face-off">overtime-winning goal</a> against Sweden to open the tournament, but it's his only point of the tournament so far and it came at 3-on-3, which furthers Frank's point about not having shown up and dominated in playoff games.
<blockquote>"When you're talking about that level of player, and you're talking about dispelling the notion that in big moments, you're going to rise to the very top," Seravalli continued. "I don't think anyone's done enough to create an argument that they're going to take something from this tournament and apply it to a Toronto Maple Leafs playoff run. However, there is one game left. It's the most important game. You find a way in that game, maybe they totally flip the narrative."</blockquote>
While Nylander won't be able to redeem himself since Sweden has been sent packing, Matthews and Marner will both have a good opportunity to shun the notion that they don't show up in big, meaningful games. And if it's anything like Canada vs. USA was in the round robin, fans are in for a treat.

You can watch the full video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZHkhGGqnhI

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-138774" src="https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2099/08/Article-727x404-1.png" alt="" width="728" height="405" /></a>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff Live</a> is on the road! From February 10th to 20th, we’re bringing you live shows every weekday straight from Four Nations, delivering exclusive coverage, insider analysis, and all the tournament action as it unfolds. Don’t miss a beat—subscribe to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff YouTube channel</a> and follow us on social for the latest updates. It’s international hockey, so expect intensity, excitement, and maybe even a little chaos. Stay locked in and catch us live from Four Nations!

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