Don't have too much to add to what's already been said. Some of the puck management was very poor, some of the efforts were sub-optimal, but the defense was pretty sound, Ullmark was his usual solid self, and the Zacha and Coyle lines dominated possession and the shot count when they were on the ice.
Monty asked for a strong effort in this one, and probably didn't really get it. Is that a problem? As a one-off I'd say not. Sometimes the players just know what needs to be done, and will have half an eye on the future schedule even if the coach would prefer otherwise. They won, and won quite easily, without wasting much energy with a b2b on the horizon including one much tougher opponent. Hard to fault the team too much for that.
What matters most is how they follow it up on Saturday. It's been rightly pointed out that this kind of performance won't beat the Kings, but reality is they weren't playing LA here and the players knew it. As such I don't think this told us too much about what they're really capable of. But tomorrow is where the rubber hits the road - the first good test against a proper high quality team. Let's see what they've got, and to what extent they can step it up and player faster hockey with a lot more intent and precision than we've seen so far.
