Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews stood silently after the 4 Nations Face-Off concluded. Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid won gold for Canada with his game-winning snap shot. The goal cemented Canada's revenge over the United States and capped off an incredible two weeks of international hockey.

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.

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.