Brad Marchand drops no-holds-barred take on Tkachuk brothers's comments after Canada's 4 Nations win over USA

Brad Marchand spoke about the Tkachuk brothers' media comments after Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off win over the United States on Thursday.

During a press conference, Marchand said that their words may have backfired. He praised their skill but suggested that their commenrs helped Canada.

"Sometimes when you shoot your mouth off at the media, it bites you. You can do that during the season, but when you're playing best-on-best, it's different. They got a little bit ahead of themselves, but they are great players, and there's not many guys in the league who can play like this, and they're extremely effective," Marchand said.

"But when you start giving teams ammo, it can work against you as well. So they are going to have long breakthrough years. I think we saw how effective they are at every level - in the regular season, in this tournament, but they are competitors, and they are a big reason why that team is what they are," Marchand added.

Brad Marchand's comments came following Matthew Tkachuk’s response to Brandon Hagel on Wednesday.

Hagel had said that Canada plays for the flag and not for attention, which seemed like a dig at the United States team, especially the Tkachuk brothers. Tkachuk responded by questioning Canada’s team chemistry.

"Well, I mean, maybe their team doesn't like each other if they don't have group chats," Tkachuk said (via NHL.com).

"That's just a player enjoying his opportunity. I think our team does not care about anything they say. There's been a lot of chatter and talk from individuals, but we care about one thing (to win) in this room."

Brad Marchand and Canada won 3-2 in overtime against the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off final. Matthew Tkachuk didn't play in the third period or overtime.

He had limited ice time in the second period before sitting out, and absence hurt Team USA, as he's a key player.

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Matthew Tkachuk comments after Brad Marchand and Canada's 3-1 loss on Saturday

In the USA-Canada game on Saturday, there were three fights in the opening nine seconds. Matthew Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel. Brady Tkachuk then fought Sam Bennett befoee J.T. Miller fought Colton Parayko after the next faceoff.

After USA's 3-1 win, Matthew Tkachuk had said that the fights were planned to send a message.

"I think the message we wanted to send is 'It's our time,'" Matthew said (via NHL.com).

"We're in a hostile environment, and we wanted to show that we're not backing down. They've had so much success over so many years over there. They're some of the best players in the world. We felt in this environment it was a good time to do it. It was a lot of fun.

Brad Marchand wasn't a part of the fight, but the comment from Matthew Tkachuk prompted a response from his teammate Hagel about the Tkachuk brothers fighting for the camera.