DiPietro's first shutout, Pastrnak's four points: Bruins blank Predators 6-0
Seven years after his NHL debut, Michael DiPietro stopped all 28 shots as Boston stretched its point streak to seven games and dropped Nashville to 1-2-2 in its last five.
Michael DiPietro waited seven years between his NHL debut and this. On Thursday at TD Garden, the 27-year-old stopped all 28 shots he faced for his first career shutout, and the Boston Bruins rolled the Nashville Predators 6-0 to stretch their point streak to seven games (6-0-1).
How it unfolded
Boston never gave Nashville a foothold. Casey Mittelstadt opened it just 3:49 in, wiring a wrist shot from the left circle off a feed from David Pastrnak, and Elias Lindholm tipped home a Charlie McAvoy point shot on the power play late in the first. David Pastrnak made it 3-0 in the second with a deflection, JJ Peterka banged in his own rebound, and Mark Kastelic and Pastrnak again piled on in the third.
Pastrnak finished with two goals and two assists — his 20th career four-point game, making him just the eighth player in Bruins history to reach that mark, per NHL.com. He now has 14 points in his past seven games. Charlie McAvoy quietly had four assists and has six points in five games since returning from suspension.
The night belonged to the goalie
DiPietro debuted back in February 2019 and had played just seven NHL games before this season. He won his first NHL game last Friday in Anaheim; now he has his first shutout. "It's a dream come true for me to be here," he said afterward. At the other end, Justus Annunen made 25 saves in his first appearance of the season but got little help.
What it means
The Bruins are 8-2-1 and suddenly look like one of the East's deepest scoring teams — five different players found the net, and it was already their third six-goal game of the season. Nashville, now 3-3-3 and 1-2-2 in its last five, heard it bluntly from coach Andrew Brunette: "It wasn't very good. It was our worst effort of the year — by far."