Overall thoughts ... some stuff to clean up but a pretty good start. You wanted Kotkaniemi and Necas to show something right out of the gate and they both delivered. KK by doing what he does exceptionally well ... winning wall battles, forechecking his little heart out, being sneaky physical and distributing the puck aggressively. Necas by dialing back what gets him in trouble and letting the game come to him. He passed and moved instead of trying to beat 4 guys on the rush, he used his speed to beat his check to a dangerous position multiple times and he actually back checked hard all night. He got the reward for his efforts on the scoresheet, but that would have been a great game from him even if nothing had dropped.
As for negatives - I didn't like how easily Columbus shifted to that same soft pressure forecheck that the Canes struggled with against the Rangers in the playoffs. Somebody needs to figure that crap out. Also, they seemed to pick it up as the game went along, but this team needs to trust themselves in transition a lot more now that they're built for it a bit better. Skjei's goal came on an extended rush sequence, but early on they bailed out of those and chipped the puck in too much rather than looking to re-set and re-cycle. Guys like Burns, Jarvis, Stasny and Kase are sneaking into open space when the speed guys cause chaos on those rushes ... find them and keep the pressure on. I know Carolina is probably the best forechecking team in the league, but they often lean on that too much. And Freddie ... man, speed up the decision making when you have the puck, buddy. You fiddled your way into trouble for no particular reason about 5 times.