Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews star in a new commercial for McDonald’s that released on Tuesday.
The Showdown is on. Who you got? https://t.co/EXtyLgIRIC pic.twitter.com/E95Js4Kmch
— McDonald's 🇨🇦 (@McDonaldsCanada) January 7, 2025
On Thursday, McDavid sent the hockey world into a frenzy with a cryptic tweet that tagged Matthews which he urged him to go cross bar and in. Matthews posted a tweet of his own a day later in which he dared McDavid to hit the billboard from 50 feet away.
This, combined with a tweet from McDonald’s, led some to wonder if a new ad was coming. The teaser trailer, which was reshared on the two stars’ respective Instagram stories, confirmed that this was going to be a new ad for McDonald’s, which had a teaser during Monday’s game between the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks before rolling nationwide on Tuesday morning.
The ad, named ‘The Showdown’ starts with McDavid taking slap shots on an empty rink, interrupted by Matthews asking him what’s in the McDonald’s bag.
“Lunch,” McDavid replies. “Big Mac.”
“Play you for it,” Matthews said.
“You’re on. First one to miss watches the winner eat.”
The two proceed to attempt shots from increasingly ridiculous angles, ranging from the stands to well outside of the arena. At one point, the two players are transformed into video game characters akin to NHL 99 on the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 before returning to the normal realm. The ad ends with the two heading into McDonald’s for a lunch break while a hockey horn rendition of the restaurant’s jingle plays out.
It is a modern take on a famous McDonald’s commercial from 1997 which had Mats Sundin and Wayne Gretzky challenged each other where the loser would buy them both a Big Mac. The two then proceeded to do insane shots that in real life had no business going in, ranging from going top shelf from the other end of the ice to banking a shot from the roof of the arena off the Zamboni and into the bottom right corner.
McDavid is once again off to a strong start to the regular season, currently sitting second on the Oilers in scoring behind Leon Draisaitl with 54 points (15 goals and 39 assists) in 36 games played. As for Matthews, he has missed time this season due to injuries but has been productive when healthy with 28 points (12 goals and 16 assists) in 26 games played.
The two superstars won’t have to wait long to face each other as the Leafs and Oilers have their next game set for February 1st in Edmonton.
