Bruins 6, Predators 0: DiPietro's First Shutout, on the Night That Mattered

October 22, 2026 - Boston - Hockey Fights Cancer Night at TD Garden, and Michael DiPietro was the last Bruins player into the locker room. His teammates were waiting. Twenty-eight saves. Zero goals. First NHL shutout. His mother, Becky, died of cancer when he was five. He told NHL.com he was a little stressed, and that you cannot write it better.

The Boston Bruins beat the Nashville Predators 6-0. Boston is 8-2-1, a seven-game point streak (6-0-1) after a 3-0-1 trip. Nashville is 3-3-3, four losses in five (1-2-2). Shots were 31-28 Boston. Attendance was 17,850, per ESPN. DiPietro, Charlie McAvoy, Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, Matthew Poitras, Frederic Brunet, James Hagens, Tanner Jeannot, Nils Hoglander, and Justus Annunen are not seeded on AthX player pages, so those names stay unlinked.

David Pastrnak had two goals and two assists. McAvoy had four assists, a career high, the Associated Press recap said. Elias Lindholm scored on the power play. JJ Peterka and Mark Kastelic scored. Mittelstadt opened it. DiPietro stopped all 28. Annunen stopped 25 of 31 in his first start of the season.

Mittelstadt at 3:49, then the power play

Pastrnak beat two defenders just inside the blue line on the right, the NHL recap said, and sent a cross-ice pass to Mittelstadt. Wrist from the left circle. High stick side. 1-0 at 3:49.

Lindholm made it 2-0 at 16:38. McAvoy from the blue line. Lindholm's tip, glove side. Zacha the other assist. "First period, they were a way better team," Nashville captain Roman Josi told NHL.com. "They had the puck the whole period. It wasn't good enough for 60 minutes from us."

Andrew Brunette, to NHL.com: "It wasn't very good. It was our worst effort of the year, by far. We need a few more guys playing hockey. We had too many passengers tonight and probably almost all of them."

Four assists from McAvoy, two more from Pastrnak

Pastrnak tipped McAvoy from above the right circle at 9:46 of the second. 3-0. Peterka made it 4-0 at 17:21. The NHL recap said he redirected Pastrnak's centering pass off the left post, then poked in the rebound.

Kastelic's backhand at 6:50 of the third made it 5-0, Poitras and Jeannot on the play. Pastrnak finished it at 15:00 from the top of the slot, Brunet and McAvoy on the landing. The Associated Press recap said that was Pastrnak's 20th career four-point game, eighth in Bruins history. McAvoy became the fourth Boston defenseman with 10 career games of three assists or more, joining Ray Bourque, Bobby Orr, and Brad Park.

McAvoy told NHL.com the morning skate had a job: be crisp, be pros, start on time. "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." The NHL recap put him at six points (one goal, five assists) in five games since a six-game suspension to open the season. Pastrnak has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past seven, that same recap said. He still wanted the five different scorers. "Amazing," he told NHL.com. "Every line is finding chemistry."

The Associated Press recap said Pastrnak leads Boston in goals (six) and assists (10), and that the Bruins have scored six in a game three times this season. The NHL recap put DiPietro at seven NHL games and five starts, with a debut on Feb. 11, 2019. "It's a dream come true for me to be here," he told NHL.com. "You don't want to wish the days away."

Mavrik Bourque returned after four games out with an upper-body injury. Ilya Lyubushkin played 16:11 in his season debut, the notes said.

AthX Engine on a 6-0 at home

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored Pastrnak at 14.80 (two goals, two assists, three shots). McAvoy is 10.10. Kastelic is 6.90. Lindholm is 6.30 with the power-play bonus. Peterka is 5.80. Zacha is 5.60. Mittelstadt is 5.20. DiPietro's win, 28 saves, and shutout land at 16.20. Annunen is 2.80.

Boston's team line is 25.20, the top club total on a 12-game Thursday. Nashville's 0-6 floors at 0.00.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is what traders will pay for Pastrnak on a night five Bruins scored, and for a Predators group that still has Pittsburgh on Saturday. They are not the same number.

Track Pastrnak, Lindholm, Peterka, and both clubs on the marketplace. San Jose visits Boston on Saturday. Nashville is in Pittsburgh.

*Sources: AP recap (ESPN), ESPN box score, NHL.com recap, NHL.com scoreboard, ESPN NHL scoreboard. AthX Engine fantasy points scored from NHL gamecenter box 2026020154. Information only; not financial advice.*