(My Sportsbook) - The Pittsburgh Penguins proved they could win without Mario Lemieux Monday, even though No. 66 came back from a groin injury. Lemieux logged less than four minutes in the first period before leaving the match.

"I was feeling pretty good, but then I just tweaked it in a little bit of a different place," Lemieux, who is expected to sit Wednesday against Carolina, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I talked to [coach Rick Kehoe] at lunch [about playing]. It was mostly for the power plays, but I took a few shifts early in the game and just had a little tweak."

But Jan Hrdina scored the game-winner late in the third period, as the Penguins beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1, at the FleetCenter. Shean Donovan also found the back of the net for the Penguins, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Rookie Sebastien Caron stopped 31 shots, including all 15 he faced in the second period, in his first-ever NHL start. Caron played 38 minutes in Pittsburgh's 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday, stopping the 18 shots he faced in relief of Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

Mike Knuble scored the lone Boston goal as the Bruins lost for the sixth time in seven games. Steve Shields stopped 18-of-20 shots for Boston, which traded netminder John Grahame to Tampa Bay earlier on Monday in exchange for a fourth round selection in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

After a scoreless second period, Hrdina snapped a 1-1 tie in the third with his 14th of the season. Ville Nieminen controlled the puck behind the net and fed a pass below the right circle to Hrdina, who snapped a one-timer that beat Shields glove side for the final margin with 5:58 left to play in the game.

A Bruins turnover led to Pittsburgh's first goal. Donovan stole a cross-ice pass just inside the blue line in the Boston zone and skated in uncontested on Shields, flipping a shot over the netminder's right pads for his fourth and a 1-0 Penguins advantage 5:28 into the first.

Boston knotted the score 6:19 later on Knuble's 10th. Don Sweeney sent a pass from the left circle over in front of the net to Knuble, who deflected the puck into a mostly empty net for the 1-1 tie.

UP NEXT

The Pens kicked off a five-game road trip Monday, and will visit Carolina on Wednesday. They'll head to Tampa on Friday.