Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid are facing off one more time, but this time the stakes are lot smaller — literally.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers captains are continuing their friendly rivalry in a new ad campaign for McDonald’s after last year’s popular ‘Showdown’ commercial.
In the ad — which debuted on Monday night while the Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers faced off — Matthews and McDavid square off in their own miniature showdown, getting shrunk down to play with their own Star Sticks, which are new mini collectables at the fast-food chain.
Animated versions of the two captains pull off some slick moves, deking around burgers, drinks and even knocking some fries to the ice with a big hit.
The two exchange some goals scored into ketchup-packet nets before one puck hits the drink of an unsuspected restaurant goer — with both players trying to pass the blame to the other.
According to a press release, McDonald’s Canada is launching the NHL Star Sticks meal on Tuesday, which is “loaded with nostalgia, bold flavours and collectibles that’ll have you rushing (or skating) to your nearest McDonald’s.”
The Star Stick collectible lineup features some of the league’s biggest stars including Matthews, McDavid, Macklin Celebrini, Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Sam Reinhart and Samuel Montembeault.
While you can score one of the mini sticks with variety of combos, also being added to the menu will be the Hockey Hero Burger — which features with three 100% Canadian beef patties topped with shredded lettuce, crispy hickory-smoked bacon, cheese and a mayo-style sauce on a toasted homestyle bun.
Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews and Oilers’ Connor McDavid star in McDonald’s new StarSticks ad campaign.”It’s exciting to team up with McDonald’s again and this time around we’re giving fans a mini hockey experience,” McDavid said in the release.
“The NHL Star Sticks are such a cool way for fans to collect a little piece of the game” Matthews added.
McDavid had first teased the ad campaign on Sunday, posting a photo of himself holding a tiny roll of hockey tape and writing that he will “need a smaller stick for this” and tagging Matthews.
The Maple Leafs captain replied by saying that he has the puck with a pic of himself holding the smallest puck imaginable.
Matthews and McDavid have met on the ice a couple of times in the past month. Before the Olympic break, Matthews and the Leafs got the better of the Oilers in Edmonton, winning 5-2. Then, during the 2026 Winter Games in Milano-Cortina, Matthews helped lead Team USA to the gold medal against McDavid’s Team Canada in an overtime heartbreaker.
Captains faced off in a trick-shot showdown
The duo previously got together last year for another popular ad campaign, recreating the iconic shot-for-shot showdowns between Wayne Gretzky and Mats Sundin, and also hoops legends Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.
In a throwback to previous iconic ad spots, the captains of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers faced off in a shooting competition with McDavid’s lunch — a Big Mac — on the line.
The spot begins with McDavid practising in an empty arena when Matthews shows up, issuing a challenge with the Oilers star’s lunch on the line.
The contest begins easily enough, with shots off the post and in, as well as some long-range clappers. But the ante gets upped when McDavid throws on a little music as a distraction: Nickelback’s Photograph.
“Nickelback classic, backhand,” McDavid says while burying his shot from the blue line.
“You know you love ’em,” the Canadian chirps as Matthews shows his dismay.
From there, the duo go into the stands for an attempt, have a quick race and then head up to the roof, where the Leafs star pounds a slapshot through a billboard with McDavid’s face on it — leaving the image of the Oilers stud down one of his front teeth.
At the end of the day, or evening, the two settle on a draw and head into a McDonald’s to get some much-needed grub.