Bruins vs. Predators: Michael DiPietro's First Career Shutout and Pastrnak's Four Points Power a 6-0 Rout

Michael DiPietro was the last one through the door of the Boston dressing room, and his teammates were waiting for him with a loud ovation. He had earned every decibel. A goalie who made his NHL debut on Feb. 11, 2019, and has now played all of seven NHL games finally had the first shutout of his career.

DiPietro stopped all 28 shots he faced, David Pastrnak had two goals and two assists, and the Boston Bruins blasted the Nashville Predators 6-0 on Thursday night at TD Garden. Charlie McAvoy added a career-high four assists, five different Bruins scored, and Nashville never really showed up.

Boston Starts on Time

The Bruins set the tone 3:49 in. Pastrnak slipped past two defenders just inside the blue line on the right side and whipped a cross-ice pass to Casey Mittelstadt, who ripped a shot from the left circle past Justus Annunen, high on the stick side. McAvoy grabbed the second assist, his first of four.

Late in the period, Nicolas Hague went off for holding Pastrnak, and Boston made him pay almost immediately. McAvoy threw the puck toward the net from the blue line and Elias Lindholm redirected it past Annunen's glove at 16:38, with Pavel Zacha also assisting. It was 2-0, and frankly, it could have been worse.

"First period, they were a way better team," Nashville captain Roman Josi said. "They had the puck the whole period."

McAvoy said the night was built on a plan that started hours earlier. "Everybody did a really good job of taking on that challenge, and we started on time and we just played a really great team game," he said.

Pastrnak Takes Over

The second period belonged to the Bruins captain. At 9:46, McAvoy fired from above the right circle and Pastrnak tipped it home for a 3-0 lead, with Zacha again picking up an assist. At 17:21, Pastrnak sent a pass into the middle, JJ Peterka redirected it off the left post, then jammed in his own rebound. That made it 4-0, and the remaining drama was all about DiPietro's shutout bid.

Boston kept rolling in the third. Mark Kastelic scored on the backhand at 6:50, set up by Matthew Poitras and Tanner Jeannot. Then, with five minutes left, Pastrnak capped the night with a shot from the top of the slot, assisted by Frederic Brunet and McAvoy. Nashville's lone power play, after McAvoy's high stick early in the third, went nowhere.

Pastrnak, McAvoy and the New Guy in Goal

Pastrnak's line read two goals, two assists, a plus-4 and 16:37 of ice time. The AP noted he leads Boston in both goals (six) and assists (10), and NHL.com said he has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past seven games. This was also the 20th four-point game of his career, making him the eighth player in Bruins history to reach that number. He cared more about the spread of the scoring.

"Amazing," Pastrnak said. "Obviously it helps every line is producing. It's almost like you're waiting for who is it going to be tonight?"

McAvoy's four assists came in 19:01, and per the AP, he became the fourth defenseman in Bruins history with 10 career games of three or more assists, joining Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr and Brad Park. Since returning from a six-game suspension that opened his season, he has six points (one goal, five assists) in five games, according to NHL.com. Zacha chipped in two assists and a plus-4, and Lindholm won 11 faceoffs against seven losses to go with his power-play goal.

And then there is DiPietro, 28 saves and a 1.000 save percentage. NHL.com noted he picked up his first NHL win last Friday, a 26-save effort in a 4-2 win at Anaheim. Now he has a shutout to go with it.

"It's a dream come true for me to be here," DiPietro said. "You don't want to wish the days away. I'm just enjoying each moment, whether that's practice or a game day."

At the other end, Annunen made 25 saves on 31 shots in his first game of the season.

Turning Point: The Power-Play Dagger

Mittelstadt's early goal put Nashville behind, but Lindholm's power-play redirect late in the first was the real knockout blow. Down 2-0 after a period in which Josi admitted Boston had the puck the whole time, the Predators never generated a push. Pastrnak's tip early in the second turned a deficit into a mountain.

Stats That Matter

• 28: DiPietro's saves, with zero goals allowed.
• 4: McAvoy's assists, a career high.
• 22-9: Nashville's edge in hits. Lots of contact, very little hockey.
• 31-28: Boston's edge in shots. The shot count was close; the finishing was not.
• 1-for-3 vs. 0-for-1: The power plays.

What It Means

Boston improves to 8-2-1 with 17 points and has a seven-game point streak (6-0-1), with the only blemish an overtime loss in Dallas on Tuesday that closed a 3-0-1 road trip. The Bruins are 4-1-0 at home and, per the AP, scored six goals in a game for the third time this season, tied for the most in the league. San Jose visits Saturday.

Nashville falls to 3-3-3 with nine points and has lost four of its past five (1-2-2). Coach Andrew Brunette was blunt. "It was our worst effort of the year," he said. "We had too many passengers tonight and probably almost all of them." He added: "We knew that, but we forgot to play hockey tonight." There were small positives: Mavrik Bourque returned from a four-game absence with an upper-body injury and had three shots on goal in 14:36, and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin played 16:11 in his season debut, per NHL.com. The Predators visit Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Better Late Than Never

DiPietro's career has been the slow-burn kind of story, the indie film that spends years on the festival circuit before anybody notices. On Thursday, he got his wide release: 28 saves, a zero on the scoreboard and a dressing room that would not stop cheering.

He kept it in perspective. "I'm trying to stay grounded," he said.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.