The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, meaning both the Canadian and United States national anthems were to be sung before puck drop at the NHL games.
That was the case but a mic issue during Natalie Morris’ performance resulted in a very cool moment at Scotiabank Arena.
Morris’ mic went out during her performance. But the Toronto crowd kept the song going by signing along to the song.
“That was great,” Toronto center Auston Matthews said. “I thought just everybody coming together, it’s pretty cool to see that in any building but obviously when you are in Toronto and it’s the American anthem, I thought that was a really cool gesture from everybody in the arena to help her finish that off and then give her the reigns back.”
Matthews is one of the best American hockey players in the world, and is the reigning Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP.
He finished the game with one goal and two assists but Buffalo came back from a 2-0 second period deficit to stun Toronto and win the game 4-3.
“That was a pretty special moment to be in Canada and hear the crowd singing our anthem,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “Hats off to the fans that were here. That will be a memorable thing I think for anybody that was in the building. What a great place this is. Lots of great people and they rose to the occasion at that moment.”
