The Canadiens (40-21-10) hit the 40-win plateau for a second consecutive season in a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

The club received all the offence they needed from a pair of unlikely sources: Forward Zachary Bolduc broke a 31-game goalless drought for the game-winner, while defenceman Jayden Struble scored his first goal of the season.

Goaltender Jakub Dobes, for a second straight start, did the rest. He didn’t need to make 41 saves like he did against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, but his 25 saves were enough in a goaltending duel with Blue Jackets netminder Jet Greaves.

Dobes’ 24th win is one more than Patrick Roy had in his rookie campaign in 1985-86. He’s now tied with Carey Price’s rookie total from 2007-08.

Coach Martin St. Louis said he won’t divulge lineup details in advance for the remainder of the season. Arber Xhekaj was a healthy scratch for a fifth straight game and the seventh time in last eight games. Alexandre Texier missed the game because of a lower-body injury and was replaced by Joe Veleno.

The Canadiens once again started slowly. They were outshot 13-6 in the first period. But it was Struble who opened scoring with a successful snipe coming down the left side. With an assist on the play, defenceman Lane Hutson reached the 70-point mark for the first time in just his second season in the league.

SON PREMIER DE L’ANNÉE

HIS FIRST OF THE YEAR#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/EdbdyY4go8

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 26, 2026

Struble giveth and Struble taketh. He was on the ice for the game-tying goal from Damon Severson less than three minutes later. Struble ended the night with a plus-1 rating over 12:05.

Damon Severson makes it a 1-1 game in the 1st period. pic.twitter.com/vrkZYQ3q10

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 26, 2026

The rest of the way, the Habs outshot the Blue Jackets 14-13, but Dobes still had to make a few key saves, including robbing Mason Marchment on a breakaway in a scoreless second period.

DOBY DIT NON

DOBY SAYS NO#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/g7N1nQRqqK

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 27, 2026

After getting the primary assist on the first goal, Bolduc finally broke out of his own goal-scoring slump in the third period, taking a pass from Jake Evans and beating Greaves in a near identical way to the Struble goal. Habs took the lead at 4:36 of the third.

Zack Attaque

The Zack Attack pic.twitter.com/IzHB4CBdm0

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 27, 2026

In the final minute of play, it looked like Dobes pulled a rabbit out of his hat to protect Montreal’s lead, but it turned out Marchment fanned on the puck in front of a wide-open net.

Marchment JUST WHIFFED on it ? pic.twitter.com/y3icIszsWP

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 27, 2026

The win kept Montreal in third place in the Atlantic Division with 90 points, two points over (and with a game in hand) on the Boston Bruins. The Ottawa Senators sit four points back after losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime, while the Detroit Red Wings are starting to fade with six points needed to catch up to the Habs.

In the playoffs, the Canadiens will need their role players to chip in on offence, and last night was a good example of the third line stepping up in a game where Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky had their seven-game scoring streaks snapped. Bolduc, Veleno and Josh Anderson also contributed physically with nine hits.

Struble may have hit the scoresheet, but his defensive partner Hutson didn’t seem like himself, and it showed on the Hockey Stat Cards impact cards. The Liveblog commenters on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube livestream are ready for Hutson to play with a natural right-handed defenceman like David Reinbacher instead of being forced to his off-hand. If the former first-rounder is ready.

NHL Game Score Impact Card for Montréal Canadiens on 2026-03-26: pic.twitter.com/06KL59ivNu

— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 27, 2026

Here’s what the commenters had to say about the game:

3. “What’s that now? 67 saves on last 70 shots or so. Not too shabby.” — Al Wilson Was the Man

2. “Good win, tough opponent. Badly needed points — again.” — Kelly Morgan

1. “Secondary scoring! Dobes on a heater … Go Habs!” — Pimp Vache {“_id”:””,”type”:”raw_html”,”shortcode_tag”:”related_links”,”shortcode”:”“,”content”:”

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