Sometimes sports can deliver a script that's better than anything anyone in Hollywood could come up with. Example A: the Boston Bruins' 6-0 win over the Nashville Predators Thursday night, and Michael DiPietro's first career shutout.
Thursday was Hockey Fights Cancer Night at TD Garden. It can be an emotional night for anyone in attendance whose life has been touched by cancer. It was a little extra emotional for DiPietro, who lost his mom to cancer when he was just five years old.
"A little bit stressed out, but obviously you couldn't really write it better," DiPietro said after the game. "For me, it means a lot on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. My mom passed when I was five from cancer, so for me it means a lot, but also to my family and everyone back home. I just want to make them proud. Obviously this is a really special moment."
DiPietro is making them plenty proud. After seven years in the minors, he is finally getting the opportunity to establish himself as a full-time NHL goalie. So far, he's taking advantage. As the backup to Jeremy Swayman, he's now 2-1-0 with a .941 save percentage and 1.69 goals-against average.
Michael DiPietro lost his mom to cancer when he was five, so getting his first NHL shutout on Hockey Fights Cancer Night “means a lot.”“You couldn’t really write it better.” https://t.co/uECSJJd5oO
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) October 23, 2026
On Thursday, DiPietro stopped all 28 shots he faced. He was at his best in the second period when the Predators made a little bit of a push with the game at 2-0. Arguably his two best saves came seconds apart midway through the period when he denied Mavrik Bourque on a partial breakaway and then made an even better save on Alexander Kerfoot's rebound bid. Less than a minute later, David Pastrnak scored to make it 3-0, and that was pretty much curtains on Nashville.
The Bruins know what they have in Swayman, who is once again looking like one of the best goalies in the league. If DiPietro is going to play like this, you're looking at a team that's going to be hard to score on. Sure enough, Boston currently ranks second in the NHL in goals against per game (2.00).
Here are four more takeaways from Thursday's win:
No post-road trip letdown
One of those old hockey cliches is that the first home game after a long road trip is a prime spot for a letdown. This was the Bruins' first game back at TD Garden after a four-game, 10-day Western swing, but there was no letdown to be found.
Instead, the Bruins started fast and opened the scoring just 3:49 into the game when Pastrnak made a nice pass across to Casey Mittelstadt, who snapped a shot high blocker past Justus Annunen.
The Bruins were winning seemingly every race and battle early on, and recorded six of the game's first seven shots. The Predators have struggled at 5-on-5 this season, and the Bruins made sure they took advantage of that by keeping the game at even strength. The Predators entered the game with the NHL's third-best power play – their only real source of offense – but Boston stayed out of the penalty box in the first period.
When the Bruins drew the game's first power play later in the first period, they took advantage with a goal from…
Elias Lindholm's strong start continues
Yeah, so how about Elias Lindholm? Everyone's favorite whipping boy continued his strong start to the season with the Bruins' second goal of the night.
With the Bruins on the power play, Lindholm won the faceoff to start, as he so often does. A few seconds later, he got free in front and tipped in a Charlie McAvoy wrister from the point for his fourth goal of the season, and his third goal in the last four games.
Lindholm is now in a four-way tie for second on the team in goals with Fraser Minten, Matt Poitras and JJ Peterka, trailing only Pastrnak (6). His eight points are tied for second on the team with Minten and Morgan Geekie, trailing only Pastrnak (16). Oh, and Lindholm leads the NHL in faceoff wins with 123 while winning nearly 60% of his draws.
Lindholm looks healthy, and he's been thriving as Boston's third-line center. Asking him to be Pastrnak's center on the first line was probably wishful thinking, but there's still a pretty useful player there that can help the Bruins win games.
Big nights for Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak
McAvoy has looked good since serving a six-game suspension to start the season, and Thursday may have been his best game yet. McAvoy assisted on each of the Bruins' first three goals, with primary helpers on the latter two.
On the first goal, he made the stretch pass up to Pastrnak to gain the offensive zone. On the second and third, it was McAvoy's shot that produced tip-in goals for Elias Lindholm and Pastrnak, respectively. McAvoy didn't get a point on the Bruins' fourth goal, but he did throw a big hit on Jack Drury seconds earlier in the defensive zone to help force a change in possession. He did eventually add a fourth assist in the third period.
McAvoy now has six points in five games with a plus-5 rating while playing nearly 25 minutes per night. The Bruins will happily take all of that.
Pastrnak, meanwhile, had two goals and two assists. In addition to the tip-in goal mentioned above, Pastrnak also scored Boston's sixth goal late in the third period with a shot that deflected off a Nashville stick and in. His prettiest point of the night was probably his setup to Peterka to make it 4-0, as Pastrnak faked a shot from the right circle before making a perfect slap pass to Peterka on the doorstep. Peterka's first try actually hit the post, but he easily poked in the rebound.
Pastrnak now has 16 points (6g, 10a) in 11 games and has climbed inside the top 10 in the NHL in points. After a somewhat slow start by his standards, he has 14 points in the last seven games.
David Pastrnak said this Bruins team is “really tight.”Did he know that would carry over from last season?“No, no. Every year, it's a new year. No matter how many guys you have, you always have new faces. You always start from zero. … You don’t take it for granted.” https://t.co/hNdGyIqRUM
— Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin9) October 23, 2026
Morgan Geekie suffers injury scare
Geekie went down awkwardly late in the first period and was clearly in a lot of pain as he glided gingerly to the bench. He got tangled up with Nashville defenseman Jayden Struble, who grabbed onto Geekie's right leg during the scrum. Then Predators center Ryan O'Reilly swooped in and slashed Geekie on the other leg, resulting in both legs just giving out and sending Geekie into a painful-looking split.
Geekie stayed on the bench for a minute talking with a trainer, but then went down the tunnel with 40 seconds left in the first period. Fortunately for the Bruins, Geekie wasn't done for the night. He came back out for the start of the second period and took regular shifts the rest of the game.
Geekie was off to a great start in this one, as he had a couple good looks himself in the first period and also set up teammates for a couple chances.
The Bruins will hope this is a game Geekie can build off. He has seven assists on the season, but he entered the night with just one goal and 10 shots in 10 games. After Thursday's morning skate, Geekie acknowledged that he didn't feel great about the chances he was getting, and that even though he's always been more of a "quality over quantity" shooter, he might have to change his approach a bit. It looked like he was doing that Thursday.
