Marner grew up idolizing Sidney Crosby and scoring a goal set up buy the decorated NHL athlete was a dream come true.

Mitch Marner was clutch for Canada in his 'best-on-best' debut.

The Toronto Maple Leafs superstar scored the overtime winner to help Canada defeat Sweden 4-3 in overtime to win the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

One day prior, Marner talked about how excited his family to see him play in this tournament. Particularly his father, Paul.

Given how things transpired Mitch knew that was how his dad was going to feel when he would meet up with him following his postgame interviews.

"Yeah, he's going to be pumped as s***, he's going to be going nuts for sure," Marner told reporters. "It's going to be really cool to see him just to hear what him and my mom have to say about that." 

Marner's goal was assisted by Canada captain Sidney Crosby, who finished the game as the first star with three assists on the evening.

"Ever since day 1, all I've ever spoken about was 87 (Sidney Crosby). Growing up it's all I cheered for. It's a really cool pinch me moment for sure and I'll always be grateful for it," Marner said.

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Below is everything else Marner discussed following Canada's big win.

Q: What was that moment like having that moment and building behind you?

"Yeah, it was super cool. I tried to just really enjoy that moment after, to be honest. The building was rocking. It was, like you said, nice to have them cheering for me instead of against me. But yeah, great play by Sid. He carried the puck up the whole ice. I just tried to get space off of him and made a drop pass trying to just keep my feet going and get a shot off quickly."

Q: He made some plays tonight. I mean, just the hockey sense that he seemed to show tonight, but here are the three of them that were.

"Sorry, Sid?"

Q: Sid, yeah.

"Yeah, no insane. Yeah, it's crazy. Just watching him, being on his team, just seeing the work ethic and everything he does, you know, it's insane. That Stone goal, what he did on that play was insane. That's why he's the top player in the world."

Q: You see him (Crosby) when you've watched him, is it different though to be a part of him and see him first hand as a teammate?

"Maybe. He's competitive in anything he does, summer skate-wise as well. Obviously this is a little different. His competitiveness, his leadership, his just communication throughout the bench in the locker room was top notch. So, yeah, it's pretty special to be his teammate."

Q: Mitch, when you were a kid, do you dream of that moment?

"Yeah, definitely. I just said in my other interview, I mean, you tell eight-year-old Mitch that he scored an overtime goal assisted by Sidney Crosby. I mean, the guy he looked up to since day one. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. And I'm sure my family's going to be very excited about that one. And it's going to be a really cool thing that I get to have now."

Q: What did you think of the pregame ceremony with Mario Lemieux and atmosphere in the building.

"Yeah, amazing. Like I said, you know, usually when we come in here, this environment's always buzzing. It's always a loud building. Tonight, took it another notch. So, yeah, it was really cool to be a part of something like that and something you're grateful for."

Q: It seemed like you were working your way through it as a line through the game, right? It's a new line. You're trying to figure it out. Jon (Cooper) leaned into you guys a lot at the end of the night there, at the end of the third. Take us through your night as a line.

"Yeah, I thought we stayed patient with our game. I thought in the first (period), we had a lot of good looks. We had a lot of good O-zone plays. Second, I think maybe we sat back a little too much or just, you know, didn't create enough, but I thought we defended well. And then the third, I mean, we just tried to keep our feet going, tried to communicate a lot in the locker room before going out there, just where we wanted pucks, where we wanted plays to go. And I thought we worked a couple of good O-zone shifts, especially late in the third there to, you know, kind of hem them in and play some O-zone.

Q: On a line like that, what's the balance between wanting to pass to superstars versus pulling up the trigger yourself?

Yeah, I'm obviously pretty grateful to play with a superstar in Toronto. So, I mean, you're just trying to play your game. Obviously, I'm usually a pass-first kind of guy, so I'm just trying to find people in open space and open time. And that's no difference in that. You know, I was able to find Connor a couple times with open space that he made a good play on. You know, I got to do maybe a better job of trying to get the puck up high and shots to the net with Reino around, obviously, with his tipping ability and his stick ability. So, that's something that we'll try to work on and talk to.

Q: Such a long wait, Mitch, to get here for everyone best-on-best? What will you remember most about this game?

"I mean, it's hard not to say, you know, the goal, obviously, assisted by Sidney Crosby. It's pretty hard not to say that. But Binnington was unbelievable tonight for us as well. Made a couple of big saves there in overtime especially. And our D, you've got to give them big credit. I mean, we're playing the best athletes in the world. From Sweden and, you know, they were able to play with 5D for pretty much, you know, at least half, if not more, of that game. So, credit to our D to keep it how it was and, you know, still jump up in the rush and still be an offensive threat."

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Q: Did you put your hand up to play defense at all?

"No, no, no, no. I wasn't willing to play D tonight against that team. You can do it in the regular season sometimes, but not against superstars like that all the time."

Q: You let that lead get away. How did the group kind of function when that happened? The talk on the bench, the leadership, how did that go?

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"Yeah, I mean, obviously you never like giving that up, but we have some great leaders on that bench. We have some guys that have been in some very big spots that didn't get nervous at all, didn't doubt anything, stayed very positive. And, I mean, that just trickles down the entire team. So, that's something you really appreciate and something that, you know, the leaders did a great job of really kind of speaking out about it and then everyone else just trickling down."

Q: What would you consider your biggest goal up until tonight? Most memorable?

"I don't know. That's putting it on the spot. I don't know. It's tough to think of that right now. Dang. Put me on the spot with that one. I don't know. I can't... Maybe. I don't know. I'm just going to say my first NHL goal. I'm going to say I can't think of anything else at the moment. I'm sure maybe there's something else, but yeah, I'll say that one."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQTrgUG9FM[/embed]

Q:  What did you make of the reception Auston (Matthews) and William (Nylander) got pre-game?

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I didn't think him and Willy were going to get a lot of love from this fan base out here. So, yeah, that's usually how it is when we come in this building and play against the Habs. So, it wasn't too surprising."

Q: The way the night unfolded? Is there an argument to increase 3-on-3 overtime beyond five minutes?

"I mean, it definitely takes maybe a shootout opportunity out of the game a little more, especially with, you know, sometimes I guess you have to, you know, shorten your bench, lengthen your bench on 3-on-3 So, yeah, I don't know. It was a cool new thing, ten minutes. We'll see what happens with it."

Q: Do you ever think you'd see a day where they would cheer a Maple Leaf and a Bruin like Marchand in this building?

"Probably not. Like I was saying earlier, I mean, especially the Bruins, they've had some big battles in this building as well. So, just shows, you know, how much love that Canada gets from every fan base. It don't matter what team you play for in the regular season, they're cheering for Canada."

Q: "Can you tell us about the new points format?"

"I didn't know it until you just told me."

Q: "What do you take on the Americans playing them on Saturday? How important that's going to be? Against you guys on Saturday?

"Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a big game. It's another great offensive team and a lot of guys that can score goals. So, it's going to be another challenging game and, you know, we've got to be ready for it."

Q: "In such a short tournament like this, how debilitating would it have been to lose the first one? Especially when you twice had two goal leads?

"Yeah, probably wouldn't have been great, but we didn't. So, it's all good. We're not going to think of the other way around.

Q: Did you share any moments with William tonight? Any chirps or any moments where you caught each other's eyes?

"Uh, caught each other's eyes a couple times. He was pretty quiet. I was saying a couple things, but he was keeping it pretty quiet.

Q: What's it like seeing a goal announced that includes McDavid, Crosby and MacKinnon?

Yeah, it's pretty insane. I mean, I don't know what that took. Maybe five to seven seconds to get that goal on the end, that first power play. So, great play. Yeah, pretty remarkable.

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Q: Is that the fastest game you've ever been part of in terms of speed by both teams?

"Yeah, definitely. I mean, the first period, the first real ten minutes, you know, the TV timeout came and you were kind of sitting there catching your breath every single time you got off. Just with the pace out there, with the intensity. Yeah, it was pretty special.

Q" What was it like to kill that penalty with Brad (Marchand) after all the years battling each other? 

"It was obviously only one kill tonight, but it went really well. Yeah, I mean, you know, Brad's a hell of a PKer. I've known it for a long, long time, a lot of years. You saw what he did last World Cup with his penalty killing. So, he's very vocal out there as well as so am I. So, I mean, we can work off each other very well and that's something you appreciate. And both of us have great instincts and both, you know, very quick on their feet. So, you know, obviously we didn't have to really defend too much in our zone with that one. We're communicating, we're talking, we're figuring stuff out and that's what you like."

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