Predators shut out in Boston

The Nashville Predators lost 6-0 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden, a game that got away from them in the first period and never came back. Read more: Predators shut out in Boston

Boston goalie Michael DiPietro made 28 saves for his first career NHL shutout, and David Pastrnak finished with two goals and two assists as the Bruins pulled away early and kept piling on. It was Boston's third six-goal game of the season.

Casey Mittelstadt opened the scoring 3:49 into the first period, finishing a feed from Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy. Elias Lindholm made it 2-0 with 3:22 left in the period on the power play, tipping in a shot from McAvoy and Pavel Zacha.

Boston led by two after one period it controlled from the opening shift, and Nashville spent the rest of the night chasing the game. The Bruins out-shot the Predators 31-28, a gap that undersold how one-sided the game felt at TD Garden.

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Pastrnak's first goal came 9:46 into the second, a deflection off another McAvoy shot that made it 3-0. JJ Peterka scored on a wrist shot with 2:39 left in the period, set up by Pastrnak, and the Bruins took a 4-0 lead into the third.

Mark Kastelic scored on a backhand 6:50 into the third, assisted by Matthew Poitras and Tanner Jeannot. Pastrnak closed it out with a snap shot at the 15:00 mark, his second goal and fourth point of the night, assisted by Frederic Brunet and McAvoy.

Goaltending told the story

Justus Annunen allowed all six goals on 31 shots for Nashville, an .806 save percentage in a game his team never led. It was Annunen's first start of the season for the Predators. DiPietro stopped every one of the 28 shots he saw for the first shutout of his NHL career.

"It wasn't very good. Our worst effort of the year, by far," said Andrew Brunette, Nashville's coach.

Nashville out-hit Boston 22-9, physical pressure that never turned into offense. The Bruins won 53.2 percent of faceoffs and scored once on three power-play chances, the extra-man goal that put them up 2-0 before the first period ended.

Nashville also committed three penalties for six minutes to Boston's one infraction, extra ice time that fed the Bruins' power play.

Records moving apart

Nashville fell to 3-3-3 on the season, 9 points, and 1-1-2 on the road. It was the Predators' fourth loss in five games. Boston improved to 8-2-1, 17 points. The only loss in that run of seven games was a 3-2 overtime defeat at Dallas on Tuesday.

Mavrik Bourque played 14:36 with three shots and no points.

Ilya Lyubushkin made his season debut on Nashville's blue line, playing 16:11.

Nashville went 0 for 1 on its only power-play chance of the night. The Predators get a chance to answer immediately, Saturday night in Pittsburgh.