The Boston Bruins snapped their five-game losing streak in Pittsburgh on Saturday. But though they managed to grab the two important points and played one of their better all-around games, it was hardly a feel-good win.

In their 3-2 victory over the Penguins that went down to the final white-knuckle seconds – just their second road win since the Christmas break – captain Brad Marchand was lost to a scary injury in the first period, making it the third straight game they had to finish down a man.

Joonas Korpisalo (29 saves) picked up the win in his first start in nearly a month and David Pastrnak notched up a couple more points in the win. As with all things Bruin this year, it wasn’t perfect. But everything considered, it was a pretty good gut-check win.

“We wanted to keep playing the right way (after the Marchand injury),” Pastrnak told ABC. “We had a really good start, which is unusual in this building. Usually they have a great start. We just wanted to be ready. We set ourselves up in a good spot. Surviving that second period was huge for us and our confidence. It feels good to finally get a dub.”

After Trent Frederic was injured on Tuesday and Oliver Walstrom was shipped to Providence on Friday, the B’s dipped into Providence to bring up forwards Georgii Merkulov (game-high four blocks) and Jeffrey Viel, plus defenseman Ian Mitchell, all of whom were in the lineup on Saturday.

They may have to get another forward to Minnesota for Sunday’s game (3:30 p.m. ET start) against a much tougher Minnesota Wild team. The only extra forward is Justin Brazeau and, as a possible trade chip, management may not want to risk playing him less than a week from Friday’s deadline. They could also use extra defenseman Jordan Oesterle up front.

We’ll see.

The win momentarily pulled the B’s two points shy of the last two wild-card teams, Columbus and Detroit, who were playing at Ohio Stadium on Saturday night.

On Saturday, the Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the first period but suffered yet another deleterious development for their long-term prospects.

Pastrnak – who else? – put the B’s up just 1:32 into the game on a pretty play. Morgan Geekie pounced on a puck up high in the Boston zone and sent a cross-ice diagonal pass to Pavel Zacha in the neutral zone. With Pastrnak streaking down the right wing, Zacha hit him with a great backhand pass for a clean break-in. Pastrnak went forehand-backhand-forehand to beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovoc, badly, for his 32nd goal of the season and extend his point streak to 17 games.

“Obviously, I feel good out there, confident. I’m making plays. My linemates, it’s a huge credit to them. We’ve been having some good chemistry together,” Pastrnak said. “But obviously we’ve got to get some wins going and that’s our focus.”

In the midst of a dominant Bruin power play, the B’s lost the captain. As Marchand was going after a puck in the corner, Pittsburgh defenseman P.O Joseph got his stick in Marchand’s skates and then followed it up with a hit from behind, driving Marchand’s head into the boards.

Marchand, who had suffered a concussion in the playoffs last season, stayed down on the ice for an extended period of time. Eventually, he skated off and went to the room, needing a lot of help. The Bruins termed it an upper-body injury.

“It’s never good to lose your captain, especially a player like Marchy, who never lays on the ice,” Pastrnak said. “And that not being called a penalty, that’s crazy to me. I thought it was a hit from behind, especially with a player getting injured and a guy like Marchy, who is pretty tough. Hopefully he’s going to be all right and be back soon enough because he’s obviously a big part of our group.”

Interim coach Joe Sacco had no update on Marchand after the game. Joseph, meanwhile, escaped justice, at least from the officials.

“I’d have to look at it again. I thought that he was tripped into the boards and there was a little bit of a shove in there, too, which put him in a tough spot. I thought we should have at least have been on (a 5-on-3) power play from that,” Sacco said.

On the continuing 5-on-4 advantage, Mason Lohrei made it 2-0 at 6:33 with a post-and-in wrister, his fourth goal of the season.

As for Joseph, Mark Kastelic missed his first hit attempt on him, but connected well on his second, knocking the defenseman out of the game. Joseph skated off favoring his right shoulder after the clean hit.

Meanwhile, Korpisalo, playing his first game since Feb. 5, had to make a couple of good saves early as well as on a Pittsburgh 5-on-3. Brandon Carlo is one of the many Bruin names that has been bandied about in trade rumors but, if the team is in fact contemplating moving him, he reminded everyone on Saturday what he can be. While he hasn’t had a great season, he was excellent defensively in a team-high 25:27, especially on the kill.

In the second period, the B’s had an opportunity to go by three on a penalty kill after a bad John Beecher offensive zone stick penalty. On the kill, Cole Koepke created a breakaway for himself but Alex Nedeljkovic came up with the stop.

The Pens had one good chance in the scoreless second period when, off a great Sidney Crosby touch pass, Bryan Rust set up Rickard Rackell but he missed a good chunk of open net.

The B’s also had a late 2-on-1 in the second but Merkulov’s return pass to Elias Lindholm was blocked.

Then Pastrnak, at 3:38 of the third, was awarded a penalty shot when Erik Karlsson tripped him from behind. But on the free look, Nedeljkovic blockered away Pastrnak’s backhander.

After Koepke hit the post on a partial break, the B’s were forced to kill off their fifth penalty when Kastelic threw down Vincent Desharnais after a whistle, and they did.

But then the B’s gave the Pens’ life with 5:59 left in regulation, giving them a shorthanded goal. Pastrnak lost the puck out high and Kevin Hayes took off. Both Parker Wotherspoon and Mitchell cut off Hayes but he curled up and fed an open Anthony Beauvillier for what was the ninth shorty given up by the B’s this year.

Then with 1:34 left in regulation, things got really hairy when Koepke was called for a high-sticking double minor on Rakell. But after a Carlo block of a pass, Nikita Zadorov fed Charlie Coyle for an empty net.

It still wasn’t over.

With 21.4 seconds left, Rackell scored to make it 3-2 with PP time still left. But that’s as close as the Pens would get.

Now the B’s just have to keep their fingers crossed for their captain.

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