BOSTON — As far as baby steps go, the Bruins took a pretty good one in Joe Sacco’s first game as head coach on Thursday at TD Garden.

The B’s received a second-period power-play goal from Elias Lindholm and then relied on Joonas Korpisalo (along with his friend the post) to snap a three-game losing streak, with Korpisalo recording 21 saves for a 1-0 victory over the Utah Hockey Club.

But, boy, did they have to work for it, with good puck support all over the ice.

The first period was scoreless but there were some signs of hope. Thanks to three power plays, the B’s held a 15-5 shot advantage. The first advantage drew some boos when it was slow to get going, but it gained momentum.

It wasn’t so much the number of shots but it was the fact that neither unit was stagnant. The B’s made one fairly significant switch, putting Georgii Merkulov on the half wall on the first unit, replacing Pavel Zacha, who moved to the second unit though they would switch back later in the game. The units switched out quickly, too, whereas in the past the first unit would tend to linger well past the minute mark.

The B’s also took one penalty, a Morgan Geekie trip, and as promised the B’s killers were more aggressive in shutting down plays.

Mark Kastelic, returning after missing one game with a lower body injury, wasted no time in getting edgy, dropping the gloves with Robert Bortuzzo for an early fight, with Kastelic powering Bortuzzo to the ice.

Through the first 20 minutes, 10 Bruins skaters had shots on net, with Zacha (four) leading the way. But Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka was solid, keeping the B’s off the board.

After some early fumbles with the puck to start the second, David Pastrnak drew another Utah penalty and again the B’s threw some rubber at Vejmelka. It appeared as though they might finally take a lead when a shot broke through the netminder and Brad Marchand got his stick on it, but defenseman Ian Cole would not let him sweep the puck into the empty net, saving a goal for Utah.

There was a scary collision midway through the second when Nikita Zadorov carried the puck into the corner and Maveric Lamoureux, in pursuit, crashed into Justin Brazeau, shaking up the Bruin briefly before he returned.

On the same sequence as the collision, Logan Cooley was called for holding at the other end of the ice and, at 12:41, the B’s finally had a breakthrough, both team-wise and a personal one.

Lindholm, who had not scored a goal since the third game of the season, took a pass from from Marchand at the top of the crease, and finally got one past Vejmelka for the 1-0 lead. Lindholm, who was also pointless in his previous five games as well, looked to the heavens when the puck finally went in, a burden lifted off his shoulders, for now at least.

Almost immediately later, Kastelic and Bortuzzo squared off again after Bortuzzo took a head shot at Kastelic. The Bruin pounded away at the Utah player, even after Bortuzzo went down. Whether it was for that or for grabbing Bortuzzo to start, Kastelic received an extra two for roughing. The B’s again killed it off to take the one-goal lead into the third period.

Early in the third, the teams traded post shots — Lawson Crouse for Utah and Charlie McAvoy for the B’s on another unsuccessful power play. Lamoureux hit another post later in the period.

The B’s also had to kill a late Cole Koepke slashing penalty, which they did. Utah pulled Vejmelka for the extra attacker but had to put him back in for a neutral zone draw. Marchand drew a penalty to help quell the scare. It appeared Pastrnak had ended it with an empty-netter, but after a review it came off the board because Pastrnak played it with a high stick with 1:01 left in regulation.

But the B’s were eventually able to kill of the final minute.

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