Shots: Canadiens could be a surprise in the East

With three out of a possible four points in their first two games, including a 5-1 humbling of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Montreal Canadiens just might be setting themselves up as a surprise team in the Eastern Conference.

In signing Paul Byron, trading for Max Domi, and the growth of Victor Mete, GM Marc Bergevin — ever on the hot seat — has a young team built with speed that is responding to head coach Claude Julien.

“We talked about it all camp, we wanted to play with pace,” Byron told the Montreal Gazette. “We want to move up quickly and with the talent we have and the speed, we can play that fast game. GETTING OLDER: Ottawa centre Matt Duchene is not exactly sure when he went from being one of the younger players on his team to one of the older ones, but he knows it happened.

“I just woke up one day, and there it was, and it scared the hell out of me,” Duchene said. “I’m trying to soak in every minute that I have. Hopefully I have a lot of years left. I feel like I do. It’s fun to see the young guys come in and it’s scary when you hear what their birthday is.

“I remember when ’91 (his birth year) was the youngest in the league. Now it’s 2000.” STRANGER RANGERS: Expectations were not exactly high for the rebuilding New York Rangers, but no wins in three games was not the idea under rookie coach David Quinn. “We can hang our heads and feel bad for ourselves, but no one else does,” winger Chris Kreider told the New York Post. “Plenty of teams go through tough, trying times during the season, and personally, I’d like to go through it now rather than later. We’re going to find our stride and keep practising to keep on getting better and continue to work on our process and our system. The best is definitely ahead of us.” CONSTANT CHANGE: Marlies veteran forward Colin Greening has learned that change is the one constant in hockey. “I have new linemates every single week,” Greening said. “It’s typical of what the season will be like. If you look at every single team, both NHL and AHL, throughout the years, the starting lineup is always much different from the lineup on the last game of the year. As a hockey player, you realize that’s part of the business. You have to be pretty adaptable. That’s a characteristic you need to play professional hockey.”