The Bruins made quick and easy work of the Predators on Thursday night, as they blitzed Nashville for five goals while Jeremy Swayman stopped all 29 shots thrown his way for a 5-0 victory at Bridgestone Arena.

Swayman’s shutout was his second of the year, and his second in as many career starts in Nashville’s barn, with his first donut over the Predators coming by way of a 42-of-42 performance back in Dec. 2021.

For the Bruins, the goals from five different scorers, too, as the Bruins attacked Preds netminder Juuse Saros with a relentless and well-balanced attack that left ’em (cat)fishing the puck out of their net throughout the evening.

• On the board with 18 shots in the opening 20 minutes of action, the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead when an offensive-zone activation went wrong for Jeremy Lauzon and gave the Bruins a three-on-one the other way.

  Led by Brad Marchand, Marchand dished the puck back towards Patrice Bergeron, but Bergeron dished it right back to Marchand, who had a wide-open net on a sprawling Saros and did not miss.

  The goal snapped what was a five-game point drought for Marchand, and was Marchand’s first goal since his marker on Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Black and Gold’s Jan. 26 loss to the Lightning.

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  Feb 16, 2023; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) celebrates with teammates after a goal during the first period against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. (Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)

• The second period featured what was a gigantic pile-on on the part of the Bruins, with three goals in just over 10 minutes of action, and that all started with another bad break for Lauzon.

  With Brad Marchand hunting around the front of the net, Bruins winger Craig Smith fired a shot towards the blue, where it bounced off Lauzon and through Saros to double Boston’s edge at the 1:11 mark of the period.

  The goal, which was Smith’s fourth of the season, was a notable one of sorts for the ex-Predator, as he now has multiple career goals against every team with the exception of the Seattle Kraken.

  And on the power play for the second time following Roman Josi’s trip of Pavel Zacha, Patrice Bergeron took a great feed from Hampus Lindholm and stormed through the Nashville end and beat Saros to make it 3-0.

  The power-play ended what was a noticeable drought for the Bruins, as they were 0-for-21 on the man advantage prior to Bergeron’s marker.

  Nashville’s bad luck rolled on, and just 3:09 after the Bergeron goal, as the Predators deflected another shot through their own goaltender, this time on a point shot from Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort.

• Scorebort cannot be stopped. pic.twitter.com/3ZrLqO3aHy

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 17, 2023

• Up 4-0 through 40 minutes of action, the Bruins managed to add a fifth goal just for good measure, and did so behind a Trent Frederic finish off a great feed from Nick Foligno.

  It was the golden goal of Frederic’s 2022-23 season, too, as it was the 11th goal of the year for No. 11.

  It was all more than enough for the Bruins to keep the Predators at bay in what finished as a five-goal win.

  The blowout also allowed Bruins coach Jim Montgomery to balance out his lines in a major way, as no Bruins forward logged more than Marchand’s 17:38 (quick shoutout to Fetty Wap), while Hampus Lindholm was the only B’s defenseman to log over 21 minutes in the win.

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  Feb 16, 2023; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) is congratulated by defenseman Brandon Carlo (25) after a win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)

• The Bruins will return home for a quick two-game homestand beginning with Saturday’s showdown with Bo Horvat and the New York Islanders.

  That game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. puck drop.

  The homestand will conclude with a Monday matinee against the Senators.

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