Bolduc, Struble end droughts in Canadiens’ win: ‘Huge weight off his chest’

By Canadian Press on March 27, 2026.

MONTREAL —
Zachary Bolduc was loading up a shot from the slot when Jayden Struble began shouting for a pass.

The Montreal Canadiens forward hadn’t scored in 31 games and had a prime chance to end his drought. Instead, he passed it up to help Struble snap his own.

Bolduc slipped the puck over to his defenceman for an even better look, and Struble beat Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Jet Greaves short-side for his first goal in a whopping 485 days.

“I thought about shooting, but when I heard Jayden, who really wanted the puck, I faked it,” Bolduc said. “Then I saw the winger that was on Jayden moved toward me, so there I sent it his way.”

“I was yelling,” added Struble. “I was screaming.”

And Bolduc’s patience paid off later.

He ripped a shot into the top-left corner at 4:36 of the third period to lift the Canadiens past the Blue Jackets 2-1 on Thursday with his first goal since Dec. 23.

“Sometimes it’s tough, you want to contribute, you want to help the team win, but I was finding ways to contribute even though I wasn’t getting on the scoresheet,” he said. “To finally do it tonight, it feels good.”

Bolduc arrived in Montreal with high expectations after scoring 19 goals in 72 games as a rookie with the St. Louis Blues last season, but the transition to playing in his home province hasn’t been seamless for the 23-year-old from Trois-Rivières, Que.

Acquired in an off-season trade for defenceman Logan Mailloux, the six-foot, 187-pound winger scored just his 11th goal in 61 games Thursday — despite opening the season with goals in three straight games. He’s also watched games from the press box as a healthy scratch.

“It’s been up and down through the year,” he said. “But now I feel really comfortable on the ice and into the system and everything. It’s been feeling really, really good on the ice with my linemates. I got chemistry with my linemates, so it makes the game so much easier.

“I’m feeling really good.”

Playing alongside centre Jake Evans and winger Josh Anderson, Bolduc had two shots and three hits on top of his game-winner and assist Thursday, earning the game’s first star.

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis thought his breakthrough was just a matter of time based on Bolduc’s consistent 200-foot play of late.

“Boldy’s got great offensive reads. He didn’t score his whole life because he didn’t have great offensive reads,” St. Louis said. “But to create more instances, you’ve got to understand the collective game defensively, whether it’s forecheck, tracking back, D-zone, whatever it is.

“I would say that in the last month, he’s really put it all together off the puck, offensively too. I wish he’d get rewarded more often, but you can tell it’s coming, and for me that’s exciting.”

Struble said he was elated for Bolduc, especially since the goalless stretch probably weighed more heavily on the forward.

“He actually scores goals,” said Struble, who converted only the sixth of his career. “It might have hurt him a little bit more, I don’t really care about it.

“That’s gotta be a huge weight off his chest.”

Montreal (40-21-10) sits third in the Atlantic Division with 90 points, four clear of the Ottawa Senators — the top team outside the playoff picture — with one game in hand.

The Canadiens extended their winning streak to three games, beating a red-hot and defensively sound Blue Jackets team that has gone 19-4-4 under coach Rick Bowness since Jan. 12.

They also did it without production from the top line of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky.

“Can’t rely on our top guys all the time,” said Evans, who set up Bolduc’s goal. “A lot of us, we don’t want to force anything and (we) play a simpler game than some of our more skilled guys. But we do need to help out a lot, and come playoff time we can’t really rely on one line to produce.”

DOMINANT DOBES

Jakub Dobes was solid for the Canadiens with 25 stops, further cementing his grip as Montreal’s No. 1 goalie after posting a career-high 41 saves in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

He kept the score even after 20 minutes, despite Columbus dominating the shot count 13-6, and improved his record to an impressive 24-8-4.

“He’s been lights out for us,” Struble said. “He’s just so hot right now. Love the guy, so it’s good to see.”

The candid Dobes, who is not speaking with the media for an indefinite period per team decision, has especially come on of late with a .931 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average in his last seven starts.

With the game tied 1-1 on Thursday, the 24-year-old stretched out his left pad to deny Mason Marchment’s deke to the backhand on a breakaway with 2:12 remaining in the second period. A chorus of “Do-by!” followed from the Bell Centre crowd.

“He’s playing really good hockey, it’s a big part of our success,” St. Louis said. “Hockey is a game of errors, and you try to make as few as possible, but when you do make mistakes, you hope your goalie fixes them. And he’s doing that.”

WHEELS UP

The Canadiens head out on a five-game road trip, beginning Saturday against the Nashville Predators. They’ll return to the Bell Centre on April 5 against the New Jersey Devils.

Montreal boasts an 18-8-8 record on the road, the sixth-best away record in the league.