Craig Berube will look to manage Matthews and Marner’s minutes as best he can vs. Hurricanes

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube will make sure he doesn’t overexert Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The two-star forwards are barely 48 hours removed from an emotional tilt between Team USA and Team Canada which ended in the latter winning the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game. With how much effort and pride Matthews and Marner, along with the other players involved, put into the tournament, it is only natural for there to be some growing pains coming out of a playoff-type game.

Berube spoke with reporters following the Leafs’ optional skate where he expressed that while he doesn’t expect any major drop-offs from the two players, he will do his best to manage Matthews and Marner’s minutes.

“They’ve been playing for sure. Timing and things like that are all set for them,” he said. “Just the emotion and the mental and  physical toughness that was put into those games, especially the last one. I expect them to be fine tonight. We’ll manage them the best we can, see how they look and how they’re feeling.”

It helps that Matthews and Marner flew in from Boston together yesterday so they have had a bit of a chance to rest up a bit before the Leafs’ first game out of the 4 Nations break. At the same time, the team hits the ground running with three games in four nights, with two consecutive road games beginning on Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, before taking on the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

Both players are well aware of how taxing the grind of the tournament has taken on their bodies but they are excited to get back into the swing of things with the Leafs and begin the stretch run.

“It’s been great. We flew in yesterday, we just talked about the tournament, how much fun it was, and how taxing it was on the body, and how every game wasn’t an easy one,” Marner said to reporters. “Tension was pretty high the entire competition. We just enjoyed the tournament, and have talked about how much fun it was, and talked about looking forward to getting back to Toronto, and take on bigger things now.”

William Nylander has had more time to rest compared to Matthews and Marner on account of Sweden’s tournament ending on Monday night, but he may have to make some adjustments to the pace of regular season hockey, in contrast to the rest of the team. Matthews, Marner and Nylander surely benefitted from the superior pace, which could accelerate the rest of the Maple Leafs’ season.

For now, they turn their attention to getting back into the swing of things against the Hurricanes with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. EST.