4 thoughts from North America's rousing World Cup debut

The kids are alright.

With overwhelming skill and a rock in goal, North America walloped Finland 4-1 in its World Cup of Hockey debut Sunday at the Air Canada Centre, and with a win over Russia in less 24 hours' time, the young guns can punch their ticket into a semifinal.

Here are four thoughts from their head-turning triumph:

Eichel from Matthews, McDavid

If you're a hockey fan, and the announcement for North America's opening goal didn't force a smile onto your face, then you must be Finnish.

The team's teenagers - and most scrutinized players - each collected a point on an opening goal scored five minutes into their tournament when Jack Eichel jammed in a rebound after Auston Matthews slipped the check of Rasmus Ristolainen.

With so much pressure on these three players, it was truly a dream start for North America.

"Oh, it was great," Eichel told theScore. "It's good for our power play as well, because obviously you want to build momentum with that, too. We had a big kill right before it and were able to go on the power play, and score a big goal for ourselves.

"We never looked back from there."

The criticalness of Murray

Scoring five minutes into the game was the ideal scenario for a team that came in stressing the importance of a good start. But prior to Eichel's goal, there were tenuous moments, and they desperately needed their goaltender to be sharp.

Matt Murray made the first five saves of the game, thwarted an early power play, and stopped all 12 shots he faced in a brilliant opening period to allow North America to settle in.

"He was great for us. He kept us in it," Mark Scheifele told theScore. "Obviously with two early power plays for them, things could have been different. He definitely kept us in, and he's a crucial part of our team for sure."

Murray needed to make just six saves in a second period dominated by North America.

Speed, skill, and swarm

Time-honored tactics precipitate originality when you're a team of young stars.

With much of the focus coming in on North America's lethalness in transition, and its vaunted power play, it was simple, otherwise banal, tactics that put the team in position to create.

"They don't give you a lot in the neutral zone, and we knew that was going to be the case," Eichel explained. "It was important for us not force anything, turn it over, give them chances against us. If you noticed that we dumped a lot of pucks in, and used our speed to get it back, and obviously force them to play in their own zone, that was our game plan.

"It's good to see us execute it, and be successful."

North America was at its most dangerous around the crease, as Finnish defenders simply could not handle the speed in which they crashed and collected pucks thrown on net, and the hands put on display around goal.

"Yeah, we were quick," Scheifele added. "We were quick to pucks. We were quick on the forecheck, and that's what created our offense."

And has the NHL created a monster?

The two teams designed to bring parity to the World Cup and prevent the previously unavoidable blowout, have outscored the competition 7-1 in their opening games.