Bolduc glad to get first NHL goal out of way

"Feels good," Bolduc said Monday. "You always want to score your first goal as quick as possible. Pretty lucky I did it in two games. Now looking forward to winning important games coming up right now.

"I can just play my game now and try to help the team to win some games."

Bolduc scored in the slot against Red Wings goalie Alex Lyon.

"It was a 1-on-3. Just before that, [Nathan] Walker did a good play too to play a puck for 'Saader,'" Bolduc said. "They both did a really good play on that. I just went with the feeling and shoot where I think there was a hole there."

The messages were coming in left and right, including from his parents, who will be in St. Louis to see his first NHL game against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.

"A lot of congrats," Bolduc said. 'Big day yesterday answering all day. (Parents) reached out and were so happy for me. They are really excited to come and see me play live."

Bolduc took advantage of Blues interim coach Drew Bannister shortening the bench in the third period after benching forwards Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Kasperi Kapanen and played 15:38, had five shot attempts, one hit and one blocked shot.

"I thought he played a good game," Bannister said of Bolduc. "He scored, but he did some good things. There were some mistakes in his game that he made as a young player, but I thought overall he played well. I thought he took advantage of his ice time that he got and it was a game that was easy because I thought he was doing good things. He was able to get a little more ice time and that's good for a young player like that to be able to play in those conditions (against) a good hockey team, contribute at least and get more ice time in situations where he can have success.

"I think he's still learning the game a little bit. There was times in practice today where I find him away from the puck a little bit more where he needs to support the puck and support his teammates a little bit more. That's just understanding the game and the situation, but I think overall when you look at the body of work over the last two games, he's done a good job of managing the game properly and being in the right spots and supporting his teammates. He's created some opportunities for himself offensively but hasn't hurt us defensively at all."