Leafs Issue Important Announcement Regarding Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner

While Mitch Marner continues to ride the high of winning the 4 Nations Face-Off with Team Canada, Auston Matthews has had to deal with yet another disappointing loss in a must-win game.

The long-time teammates flew back to Toronto together on Friday from Boston and opted out of participating in Saturday's morning skate as the Leafs get ready to return to game action against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight.

Instead, the duo addressed the media and confirmed that they would both be playing.

Marner also revealed what the pair of Leafs stars spoke about on the flight home.

Matthews can attest to Marner's comments about the wear and tear on their bodies as he missed Team USA's final round-robin game due to 'upper-body soreness' in preparation for Thursday's finale against Marner and Team Canada.

Although they are both playing on Saturday night, it wouldn't be surprising to see Craig Berube attempt to reduce their minutes where possible. Whether that means cutting back on their penalty killing or shortening their power play time remains to be seen, but Berube didn't hint at any restrictions for them over the past couple of days.

However, after a day of travel and finishing the gold medal game less than 48 hours ago, limiting their ice-time makes sense -- especially when the Leafs have to fly to Chicago following Saturday's game to play the Blackhawks Sunday night.