Chemistry was elusive for all of the Bruins forward lines except the Mark Kastelic line. Spending an inordinate amount of time in the penalty box will not help find them.

The B’s went to the box six times in the first two periods in Nashville on Tuesday, handing them their second straight loss, this time a 4-0 loss to the previously winless Predators.

They come home with a 1-1-1 record on the three-game road trip, but things don’t get any easier with Dallas (Thursday) and Toronto (Saturday) on deck.

The B’s have now led the league with 40 minors and have scored one goal in their last six spells.

Coach Jim Montgomery changed his top nine forwards, loading a front line with Brad Marchand, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak and inserting Max Jones into the lineup on a line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic.

But not much clicked early on, and it didn’t help that Pastrnak took an offensive zone hooking penalty 13 seconds into the game, mixing up the lines from the start. The B’s couldn’t sustain any offensive zone 5-on-5 pressure, while Predators had numerous high-danger chances in the opening 20 minutes. Jeremy Swayman had to be sharp early (thirteen saves in the first period).

Kastelic tried to get the bench going with a fight against defender Luke Schenn – delivering repeated rights to the veteran until he collapsed on top of Schenn – but the even-strength offense remained anemic.

The B’s had a good looking power play in the first inning, but Saros denied Pavel Zacha at the top of the crease on the B’s best chance.

When Jones took his second minor of the period – and the third B foul of the period – the Preds finally made them pay. Just 11 seconds after Jones took his place, Ryan O’Reilly deflected a Roman Josi shot past Swayman for the 1-0 Nashville lead at 5:16.

Pastrnak had a chance to immediately burst the Preds’ bubble on the next shift when he had a clean breakaway, but Saros read his move to the backhand correctly and sent it wide.

The B’s came out for the second period looking determined to take over. They put the first five shots on net and, for the first time, had good offensive zone time.

But then their season-long penchant for taking penalties undermined a good effort and before the period was over they were 2-0 down.

First, Nikita Zadorov took his seventh penalty in as many games. The B’s were able to shut that down.

But later in the period, Charlie McAvoy was given a double minor when he caught Steven Stamkos in the nose with his stick on a backhand clear attempt. McAvoy had gone back on what he thought was a cherry on top, but it was waved away and he found himself in a battle he wasn’t ready for.

The B’s did a great job killing both minors, but just as McAvoy emerged from the box, an unfortunate bounce at 16:55 led to a Tommy Novak goal. Luke Evangelista attempted a backdoor pass through the crease, but Swayman deflected the ball to Novak, who just put a shot through Swayman at 16:55.

As in the second period, the B’s came out strong in the third. But in an indication of how things are going offensively for the B’s, Pastrnak had another breakaway and somehow fell down, crashing into Saros. The B’s also had another power play that was effective everywhere except putting the puck in the net.

Finally, when the B’s pressed for something, anything, they gave up a 2-on-1 and Gus Nyqvist held on to beat Swayman under the glove with 7:13 left to bow out the first win of the season for the Preds.

Montgomery then pulled Swayman over for a Hail Mary, or maybe just a little 6-on-5 workout, and it didn’t take long for Evangelista to hit the empty net.

Originally published: October 22, 2024 at 11:21 PM