They’re not dead yet.

The Portland Pirates snapped an eight-game losing streak with a gritty 3-2 victory over Providence before a crowd of 4,261 on Saturday night, and kept their playoff hopes alive.

Laurent Dauphin, right, celebrates with his teammates after scoring Portland’s second goal Saturday night in a 3-2 over the Providence Bruins at Cross Insurance Arena. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

They still trail Springfield by a point for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff berth, but the Falcons finished their schedule Saturday night.

Because Portland would win a tiebreaker, it can qualify by winning or reaching overtime Sunday at Worcester in the regular-season finale.

“I don’t think we ever panicked,” said forward Alexandre Bolduc. “We knew what we were doing. We know how good we can be.”

Bolduc wrested momentum back in Portland’s favor following a lengthy video review of an apparent goal by newly signed rookie Christian Dvorak that would have given the Pirates a two-goal lead late in the second period.

Dvorak, the 2014 second-round pick of Arizona making his pro debut, tipped the puck past Providence goaltender Jeremy Smith following a pass by Henrik Samuelsson and then tripped over Smith. Instead of his first pro goal, Dvorak was penalized for goalie interference and the Pirates found themselves on the penalty kill.

Bolduc’s short-handed goal on that decisive penalty kill gave Portland a 3-1 lead and turned out to be the difference-maker. He followed a Jordan Szwarz breakaway and cleaned up the rebound for his team-leading 22nd goal of the season.

“I was hoping for (Szwarz) to do exactly what he did,” Bolduc said, “just drive the net and hopefully the puck goes in or I get a rebound off it.”

The conference standings show Springfield in eighth with 86 points and Portland and Albany tied for ninth at 85.

Albany is also done with its schedule and was eliminated when the Falcons won.

Worcester had clinched a playoff berth Friday night.

As in recent games during their losing streak, the Pirates outshot their opponent (33-27). But this time they took an early lead and held it.

The Pirates opened a 1-0 lead midway through the first when Tyler Gaudet came from behind the net and poked the poke through the feet of two Providence defenders and Smith. Eric Selleck and Dylan Reese assisted.

They made it 2-0 eight minutes into the second on the first professional goal by Laurent Dauphin on a diving effort from the left side to swat home the rebound of a Lucas Lessio shot that Phil Lane also tipped.

A confused line change resulting in penalty for too many men on the ice led to a Providence power-play goal by Tommy Cross with less than five minutes remaining in the period.

Then came the disallowed goal, followed shortly by Bolduc’s short-handed tally to make it 3-1 heading into the third.

“We weren’t playing that bad,” Bolduc said of the late-season spiral. “We’ve been out-chancing teams and we just weren’t getting the breaks.

“When you’re not getting the breaks, you just have to work that much harder. And that’s what we did (Saturday night).”

The Pirates overcame another big hurdle in the third, killing off nearly two minutes of a five-on-three disadvantage following successive penalties to Dauphin and Bolduc to maintain their two-goal cushion.

With four minutes remaining, Providence forward Rob Flick wristed a shot from the top left circle to the upper right corner to make it a 3-2 game.

That’s how it ended. Louis Domingue finished with 25 saves for the Pirates, who will determine their own fate Sunday in western Massachusetts.

“Not an easy place to play,” Bolduc said. “Worcester’s a good team.”

NOTES: Before the game, the Pirates recognized six players with awards. Goaltender Mike McKenna won Most Valuable Player. Forward Henrik Samuelsson won the Jack Button Award as the best NHL prospect. Bolduc won the Tom Ebright Award as best fitting the ideals of a Pirates player. Defenseman Dylan Reese won the Player’s Player Award, forward Jordan Szwarz won the Unsung Hero Award, and fans chose center Francis Wathier as the Most Popular Player.

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