By STEPHEN WHYNO
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.
