Tempers flared over the final 60 seconds, however.
The Bruins had some early chances, but Juuse Saros had the Nashville net sealed.
Pavel Zacha was victimized twice by the Finnish Olympian, first from the slot and later from the left dot.
David Pastrnak set up Marat Khusnutdinov in the slot, but the winger couldn’t get his shot through the quagmire of bodies in front.
Pastrnak caught Steven Stamkos with a high stick, but the Bruins squashed the penalty, allowing just one harmless shot on Joonas Korpisalo.
Not long after their power play expired, however, the Predators took the lead on a shot that Korpisalo would dearly love to have back.
Defenseman Nicolas Hague, trailing the play, took a drop pass from Ozzy Wiesblatt and snapped one through Korpisalo’s pads. The Bruins goalie took the steam out of the shot, but the puck trickled over the line before he could recover.
Nashville had a golden opportunity moments later but Korpisalo — also a Finnish Olympian — snagged a point-blanker from Joakin Kemell, who arrived at the rink just minutes before puck drop from AHL Milwaukee.
Erik Haula caught Pastrnak with a high stick, but the Bruins power play couldn’t connect.
A dustup with 41 seconds left resulted in minors to Boston’s Mark Kastelic (roughing) and Nashville’s Matthew Wood (cross-checking).
Elias Lindholm nearly put the Bruins on the board after Stamkos inadvertently wiped out Saros, but the goalie recovered in time to glove the center’s bid.
Haula tripped Pastrnak in the in the final second, giving the Bruins a power play for the first 1:19 of the second period.
The middle period was disastrous for the Bruins.
But it could have been worse.
Charlie McAvoy took another puck to the face, dropping Boston’s top defenseman to the ice. He required some attention but didn’t miss a shift.
Coach Marco Sturm elected to go with four forwards, and it didn’t work out too well.
Nick Perbix picked off a Pastrnak pass and was off to the races the other way. Wood popped out of the penalty box, joined the rush, and slid a perfect Perbix relay past Korpisalo for a 2-0 lead.
It was the seventh shorthanded goal the Bruins have allowed on the season.
Boston cut the lead in half on its next man advantage when Morgan Geekie one-timed a heat seeker past Saros for his career-high 34th goal and 12th power-play strike of the season.
It was all downhill from there.
The Predators erupted for three straight goals to take a commanding 5-1 lead after 40 minutes.
First it was Haula, who banked one in off his body.
Sean Kuraly ripped one past Saros, but it was immediately called off for interference as Tanner Jeannot clipped the goalie on his way through the slot.
On the ensuing power play, Filip Forsberg ripped one over Korpisalo’s blocker from the right circle.
Wood’s second of the night, on a net-front tip, capped the Predators’ onslaught.
The Bruins challenged the Wood goal for goalie interference but after a lengthy review — and with the crowd signing along to The Beatles’ “Let it Be” — it was deemed a good goal.