In need all season of a cure for what ails them, the lowly Nashville Predators found it Tuesday night — a visit to Causeway Street.
The ever-accommodating Bruins, their injury-riddled roster further stripped of talent with the afternoon trade of veteran forward Trent Frederic, stumbled around the Garden for 60 minutes and failed to pocket 2 points against a Predator team that had won only 6 of 30 road games (6-20-4).
After watching Morgan Geekie pull the Bruins into a 3-3 tie early in the third period with his 20th goal of the season, the Predators connected twice (Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O’Reilly) in 63 seconds, pacing Nashville to a 6-3 victory over the slumping Black and Gold.
The Bruins, often looking uninspired and emotionless, repeatedly yielded goals quickly after scoring, flashing a troubling trait that has plagued them this season. They were outshot (30-21) and outplayed in their own building, before fans who seem to have become inured to the growing reality that the Black and Gold will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“We need to bring that energy and that focus,” said veteran forward Charlie Coyle, noting the frequency with which the Bruins quickly surrendered goals after scoring. “and come right back at it and show some life — and we didn’t.”
The loss left the Bruins mired in an increasingly fruitless scrum for a wild-card playoff seed in the East and dropped them to 1-5-2 in their last eight games. They are 28-27-8 for the season and 20-18-5 since Joe Sacco took over behind the bench in the wake of the fired Jim Montgomery.
Coyle, Jordan Oesterle, and Geekie scored for the Bruins, who return to work Thursday night in Raleigh vs. the playoff-bound Hurricanes. They have 19 games remaining in the regular season … the clock on the season now ticking louder and more ominously than the 60 minutes (sometimes more) they play each night.
O’Reilly (two goals, assist) and fellow veteran Steven Stamkos (goal, two assists) led the way for the Predators.
Jeremy Swayman, burned for early goals that came 67 seconds and 77 seconds after the Bruins scored, fell to 18-21-6. David Pastrnak, whose point streak was halted at 17 games with Sunday’s 1-0 loss in Minnesota, picked up a pair of assists.
The Bruins were without the injured Brad Marchand for a second straight game and don’t know when their captain will return. They could be without their top two defensemen, Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, for the remainder of the season. Mix in the trade of the popular Frederic (now with the Oilers) and it all looked like too much for the Bruins to endure, even against a Nashville team that knows it won’t make the playoffs.
“It’s tough, you know, those goals we scored were tying goals, or in a tight game we could have grabbed the momentum,” said Pastrnak, lamenting the repeated quick giveback goals the Bruins surrendered. “Unfortunately it went the other way and it’s not the first time that’s happened this season. It’s definitely a momentum killer.”
The Predators looked playoff-worthy in the opening period, rolling up a 2-1 lead with a decisive 14-5 shot advantage across the opening 20:00.
The Bruins held a brief 1-0 lead, with Coyle cashing in at the doorstep after the Predators fumbled the puck badly behind their own goal line. It was Elias Lindholm who eventually popped the puck out front and the alert Coyle mashed it by Juuse Saros for the opening strike.
The lead was short-lived. Only 67 seconds later, No. 1 center Tommy Novak sniped home the equalizer from the right circle off of a rare Pavel Zacha turnover.
Nashville likely will move one or two of its high-priced veterans prior to Friday’s trade deadline. One could be O’Reilly, who sure looked like a keeper on Nashville’s second goal, which he finished off as one of the front men in a three-on-two break.
The Predators also compiled a 30-13 lead in shot attempts in the opening period.
The Bruins tied it briefly in the second period, only to yield the go-ahead goal shortly after. Quick givebacks, no way to win.
Oesterle delivered the 2-2 equalizer 5:08 into the second, his first goal in Black and Gold, and he did it on what was intended as a pass. With Zacha and Geekie fronting the net, Oesterle snapped off his pass from the right circle, only to see it deflect off Fedor Svechkov’s stick and ricochet by Saros.
But 77 seconds later, Stamkos was left alone near the left faceoff dot, where he hammered home a one-timer off a dish from near the far wall by O’Reilly.
“The start of the game, we mismanaged pucks,” said Sacco. “We gave the puck to them too much in the first period. I know where they are as far as the standings, but they have some good offensive weapons. And when you give them the puck the way we did in the first period, they are going to make you pay — and they did.”
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.