Zachary Benson trails Bolduc in Canadiens' 4th win

Zachary Bolduc scored the game-winning goal and took a roughing double-minor in the Canadiens' Sunday night win over the Sabres. The 23-year-old winger turned a playoff role he had struggled to find in the regular season into something much louder.

Bolduc on the scoresheet

Bolduc finished Sunday night with only 10:43 of ice time, yet he decided the game with the goal that stood up as the winner. He now has two goals and four assists for 10 points in 10 postseason games, with a plus-six rating to go with 18 penalty minutes.

That production has come while he has been increasingly visible in the physical side of the series. On Friday night, he came to goaltender Jakub Dobes' rescue after Beck Malenstyn ran into him, then jumped on Malenstyn while he was hanging on the net's crossbar and sent him down on the ice with a few punches.

Scrums around Alex Lyon

Sunday brought another collision course. Bolduc got a roughing double-minor after an altercation with Connor Timmins and Malenstyn in Alex Lyon's crease, and late in the third period Josh Norris hit him with a right-hand jab while he was tangled up with Logan Stanley and a lineman.

Bolduc and Stanley both received a minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct on that play, while Norris escaped punishment. The sequence fit the way Bolduc has played since the playoffs began: he has been very noticeable, and he has made himself part of the traffic around the crease as often as he has finished chances.

Montreal's playoff edge

During the regular season, Bolduc struggled to find a role with the Canadiens. That has changed in this second-round series, where his offense and edge have given Montreal a winger who can change a shift at either end.

Bolduc said, "I don’t know, it’s just the way the game presents itself." He added, "I think it’s something that I can and want to bring to the Canadiens," and, "I want to bring my strengths as much as possible, and if I’m a thorn in their sides, it’s for the best."

Buffalo has treated him like public enemy number one, just as Zach Benson has become public enemy number one for the Canadiens. Sunday night made the matchup even tighter around that exchange, with Bolduc helping decide the result and absorbing the punishment that came with it.