Josh Griffin was sent off and prop Chris Green sin-binned as Hull FC held onto a 35-32 victory with just 11 men, while Castleford won in golden point against Huddersfield and Leeds edged Wakefield in Super League action.
Former Red Devils centre Griffin was red carded by referee Liam Moore for a dangerous tackle, while team-mate Green and Salford’s Adam Walker were sin-binned in a frantic final 10 minutes.
Winger Jake Bibby touched down twice to complete his hat-trick as Salford made the most of their one-man advantage.
But Lee Radford’s side, leading 35-22 prior to the late flashpoints, held on for victory.
They were certainly in cruise control as half-back Albert Kelly touched down twice on his 150th career appearance put them on the way to victory.
Kelly’s double came in a contest of 10 tries which saw the Black and Whites draw level on points with third-placed Catalans Dragons.
Hull’s contribution was five tries, including two from Kelly, plus other efforts from Jake Connor, Mark Minichiello and Jamie Shaul. Former Salford half-back Marc Sneyd added four goals.
Meanwhile, fullback Peter Mata’utia was the hero for Castleford as he struck in the seventh minute of extra time to give the Tigers a 27-26 victory over Huddersfield.
A try on his 200th appearance from prop Grant Millington three minutes from the end of normal time enabled the Tigers to level the match at 26-26 and set up the fourth Super League match to be decided by golden point this year.
It was a cruel outcome for stand-off Lee Gaskell, who scored a hat-trick of tries only to find himself on the losing team.
Elsewhere, Tui Lolohea scored a spectacular long-range try as Leeds beat Wakefield 10-0 to register back-to-back Super League victories for the first time this season.
The Rhinos have endured a traumatic campaign after Dave Furner was sacked after just 14 games at the helm, with Richard Agar being placed in interim charge.
But former Hull and Wakefield boss Agar has now presided over successive wins against London Broncos and Trinity to boost Leeds’ hopes of avoiding relegation.
Two penalties from Liam Sutcliffe put the visitors 4-0 up at half-time and Tonga full-back Lolohea, a close-season signing from Wests Tigers, then struck with a fine long-range effort in the 54th minute.
