Canada came away as champions of the NHL's inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off on Thursday night, with star Connor McDavid netting the game-winner roughly eight minutes into overtime.
The win was the finale of what turned out to be an incredibly popular substitute for the NHL All-Star game. The round-robin tournament put some great hockey on display while reviving the rivalry between the USA and Canada in a non-Olympic year.
Following the championship game, Team Canada forward and Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand was asked about the trash talk and chatter between the two sides—specifically from Team USA wingers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk—and didn't mince words.
The Tkachuk brothers, they play their game," he explained. "They do what they do. Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, it bites ya. You can do that during the season but when you're playing best on best, there's—it's different, ya know?"
Brad Marchand says the “51st state” chatter and trash talk by Tkachuk brothers didn’t have an impact on @HockeyCanada.
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) February 21, 2025
On Tkachuks: “Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media - I mean, it bites ya.”
“You can do that during the season. But when you’re playing… pic.twitter.com/IfZYYdQENK
Marchand did ultimately go on to give the brothers, who paced Team USA throughout the tournament, their praise.
"They got a little bit ahead of themselves," he continued. "But they're great players and there's not many guys in the league that do what they do... But when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you as well. They're gonna have long, great careers and I think you saw how effective they can be at every level. They do it the regular season and they did it in this tournament, and they're competitors. They're a big reason why that team is what they are."
After a true day off on Friday, the NHL continues its regular season schedule on Saturday—beginning with a matchup between the Minnesota Wild and the Detroit Red Wings set for 12:30 p.m. EST.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brad Marchand Takes Jab at Tkachuk Brothers After Canada's OT Win Over USA.
