David Pastrnak notched two goals and two assists, and Michael DiPietro stopped all 28 shots he faced in his first career shutout as the Boston Bruins beat the visiting Nashville Predators 6-0 on Thursday night.
Boston, which is 6-0-1 in its last seven games, scored twice in each period to cruise to the win.
Casey Mittelstadt netted the opening and eventual game-winning goal, while Elias Lindholm, JJ Peterka and Mark Kastelic also found the back of the net. Charlie McAvoy had four assists, and Pavel Zacha dished out two.
Eleven of DiPietro’s stops came in the second period alone.
Justus Annunen made 25 saves in his first start of the season for Nashville, which has dropped four of five (1-2-2).
Mittelstadt helped the Bruins out to a 1-0 start only 3:49 into the game, taking a slick cross-ice pass from David Pastrnak and sliding down the left side to rip a high wrist shot past Annunen’s blocker side.
Boston needed only 14 seconds of a late first-period power play to double its lead, as Lindholm deflected McAvoy’s point shot from directly in front of the blue paint with 3:22 remaining before intermission.
Just after DiPietro’s massive stop against an on-charging Mavrik Bourque at the other end of the ice helped preserve the shutout, Pastrnak extended it to a 3-0 game when he tipped home McAvoy’s trigger from the top of the right circle at 9:46 of the middle period.
Peterka netted Boston’s fourth goal with 2:39 left in the second, burying his own rebound after sliding down the middle. He initially hit the left post while putting Pastrnak’s shot-pass from the wing on net.
The hosts continued their onslaught at 6:50 of the third. After Annunen misplayed a Matt Poitras dump that banked off the corner boards and the post, Kastelic picked up the rebound into the slot and slotted it home.
Pastrnak put an exclamation point on the night with 5:00 left, as his shot from the high slot deflected off a defender in front and past Annunen.