Matthews, Marner shine on home ice in Toronto
TORONTO — Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner of the Maple Leafs shined in the NHL All-Star 3-on-3 tournament on home ice in Toronto on Saturday.
Matthews scored twice, including the game-winner, and had an assist and Marner added a goal to beat reigning MVP Connor McDavid’s team 7-4 in the final. Members of Team Matthews split $1 million as the reward for winning the final event of a new-look All-Star Weekend, which featured the return of the popular player draft and a redesigned skills competition.
“In front of the home town fans, we wanted to give them a show,” Marner said.
Toronto’s face of the franchise, Matthews was named All-Star MVP surrounded by thousands of cheering Leafs fans. Matthews, Marner and fellow Leafs players William Nylander and Morgan Rielly were teammates again at All-Star Weekend.
The success of the Leafs quartet came a day after McDavid stole the show by winning the skills competition he played a big role in altering.
McDavid’s team erased a late deficit to advance to the final, scoring two goals in the final 32 seconds to beat Nathan MacKinnon and Co. Matthews’ beat Quinn Hughes’ team 6-5 in a shootout in the other semifinal.
Devils say Hughes is close: Jack Hughes is nearing a return to the New Jersey Devils lineup after missing the past month because of an injury.
The team said that Hughes is “really close” to playing again and decided to return home to New Jersey on Friday night to begin his preparations for the second half of the NHL season. He voiced optimism about an imminent return earlier in the week.
“Hopefully I come out of the break here and feel good and can finish the year off really strong,” Hughes said.
He participated in some All-Star Weekend festivities anyway to spend time with brother Quinn of the Vancouver Canucks.
“I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to do this again with Quinn, so it definitely was important to both of us for me to come and show up,” Hughes said.