A big win over rivals is always a positive for fans, but no one should be getting carried away with the Los Angeles Kings' 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Kings iced a more experienced roster that featured most of the expected opening night roster and the Ducks sent more of a B squad.
That doesn't mean there's nothing we can learn but it does set up some context for the game.
Firstly, as head coach Todd McLellan said after the game, it's important to not focus on the final score or stats. Instead, he was focused on how the Kings implemented their structure and some of the finer details in the game.
"Not (focused on) the stats or the score or anything," said McLellan. "It's combining the, as I mentioned, the structure, the systems and everything within them. With all of the other intangibles, the speed, the pace which we did it. We made mistakes tonight, we didn't cover on a pinch and got scored on. So, there's some workable moments not that we can use in practice and try and fix some things up."
With that in mind, here are some takeaways from Tuesday's victory.
Dubois Line Continues to Develop Chemistry:
One of the big stories heading into this season will be the Kevin Fiala - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Arthur Kaliyev line. Whether they can find chemistry, and most importantly whether Fiala and Dubois can find chemistry, will be massive for the Kings this season.
The early signs in Australia were good, but we saw a more developed line on Tuesday.
Fiala and Dubois combined for an early chance and then connected on the game's first goal. Fiala was his usual dynamic self and Dubois seems to be getting more comfortable within the Kings' system and structure.
It's still early, but it appears that Fiala and Dubois will have no issue playing together this season.
This means the big question mark is Artur Kaliyev. This will be the biggest opportunity he's had in his career and he needs to take it.
McLellan has been complimentary of Kaliyev during camp, and despite a mediocre game stats-wise, McLellan was happy with Kaliyev again on Tuesday.
"I'd like to talk about Arthur prior to training camp," said McLellan post game. "We asked him to do a lot of things in the summer. The physicality, strengthening his engine so that he can play there and play there consistently, stretch some shifts out and not hurt the team but help the team. Contribute to the game when it's not just about shooting in the net, and I think we've seen that in the last three exhibition games. He's done his homework, he should feel confident, he deserves to feel confident right now and we want to see him continue that as the season rolls in.
It was high praise for Kaliyev from McLellan, but it's also worth noting that he finished the game with two penalties and was guilty of not covering on the pinch McLellan mentioned in the first quote.
While those were negative points for Kaliyev, he did show a lot of confidence with his shot and made a few high-skill plays with the puck.
If Kaliyev can cut out the penalties and continue to do the small things McLellan's talking about, it should be a strong season for him.
Andreas Englund's Physicality:
One thing that several fans picked up on early was the physical play of Andreas Englund. He set the tone early with a few big hits and physical moments, which is exactly what you want to see from the big Swede.
It was easily the best of his three preseason games so far and was an example of what he is at his best.
It was good to see a strong performance from Englund, but I wouldn't pencil him in for the third-pair left defense spot just yet. I think the context of this game has to be taken into account.
In his three games for Los Angeles so far, he's struggled in two games against a much better Coyotes lineup and only looked good in a game against a Ducks roster that had just a few NHL players on it.
Of course, there are other reasons besides the quality of competition that Englund's play improved. He's had more time to settle in with the team and get used to the systems.
But I'd like to see him have this performance against a stronger lineup before getting too excited about his play.
Another Strong Showing From Adrian Kempe:
Surely Adrian Kempe doesn't have another level to reach, right?
Similar to what I just said about Englund, you don't want to get too excited about a strong performance in this game, but Kempe looks great right now.
He was arguably the Kings' best player in Australia and looked like one of the team's best players again on Tuesday.
He's taking on more of a play-driving role and looks to have a more complete game heading into this season.
Maybe it was just the weaker competition making Kempe look better, but if he can sustain this level of play against NHL lineups, Kempe will ascend to true superstardom.