I think most of my thoughts on this game have been expressed here already but a couple thoughts...
1) I am not sure we should be so surprised Christiansen played well last night. I believe he was well sought after coming out of Juniors so he had established himself as a kid with real potential. He has played quite well in Cleveland the last three seasons and did not look out of place last year when he was called up and got into the lineup. Then he had a solid training camp. This is a kid who is simply progressing year after year the way other teams develop players. He's 25, this is when we expect a defenseman to really start hitting their stride. He belongs.
2) My one concern with KJ91 is will he be the same player mid-season that he is right now. We know in the past he has struggled to put on good weight. Now that he has added it I wonder if he will be able to maintain it throughout the season. I think many players lose weight throughout the season...there is so much less time to stay diligent in the weight room. Fingers crossed. Maybe he is best suited to the middle six where his minutes can be better managed this year while building towards future seasons.
3) I had few issues with Elvis last night but there is no doubt he will always be a polarizing player in this forum.Love him or hate him, he is likely our 1A goalie and complaining about him isn't productive or cathartic. Just accept it and cheer for him to be the best player and teammate he can be.
4) Like Z said in his post-game interview, if they play like this all season they are going to win a lot of games. Amazed at what a difference coaching makes. From 5v5 to power play, this team looks incredibly more competent from what we saw the last three years.