BOSTON — Brad Marchand has never been afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to his opponents.
That remained true on Thursday after Team Canada’s gold medal win over Team USA in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off finale.
“The Tkachuk brothers, they play their game, they do what they do. Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off in the media, it bites you,” Marchand said. “You can do that during the season, but when you’re playing best-on-best, it’s different.”
Marchand’s comments come after Matthew Tkachuk poked fun at Team Canada for some of their players not having a group chat to communicate. The Florida Panthers star revealed he, Brady Tkachuk and J.T. Miller had a three-person text chain for how to plot the start of USA’s first game against Canada.
“Maybe their team doesn’t like each other then if they don’t have group chats,” Tkachuk said. “I think that’s just a player enjoying this opportunity.”
Canada’s Brandon Hagel responded by saying his team plays for the flag, not the cameras.
While the U.S. won, 3-1, and had three fights in the first nine seconds, Canada got the last laugh as it won gold in Boston.
“They got a little bit ahead of themselves,” Marchand said, adding the Tkachuk brothers are great players who have long careers ahead of them. “When you start giving teams ammo it can work against you.”
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