BOSTON — The 2024-25 Boston Bruins may not make the playoffs, but at least they won’t live in infamy, either.

Riding a 10-game losing streak going into Saturday, the B’s were in danger of tying the franchise’s 100-year-old record for futility if they had managed to lose their 11th straight. But thanks to a monster five-point night from David Pastrnak (hat trick, two assists) and an excellent performance from Jeremy Swayman (38 saves), the B’s beat the playoff-bound Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1, at TD Garden. The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for Swayman, who lost the shutout with 54.2 seconds left on a Justin Robidas goal, while Pastrnak hit the 40-goal plateau for the fifth time, and fourth straight season. It was also Swayman’s 100th career win.

For much of the first period, the Bruins looked like many of the rest of us, just counting down the games until this brutal season is over. They took icing after icing, giving Carolina lots of zone time.

But then, out of nowhere, the B’s grabbed a 2-0 lead in the final 1:11 of the period.

The first goal came innocuously enough. Morgan Geekie carried the puck over the Carolina blue line without any help and he fired a long-range wrist shot, low and hard, that went through the Carolina defender and then goalie Freddie Andersen. That was the 28th goal for Geekie, the lone surprise success story of the season.

One change interim coach Joe Sacco made going into the game was to try Elias Lindholm with David Pastrnak again. It was a combo that management envisioned when Lindholm was signed to a seven-year, $54.25 million contract last summer. It did not work at first and former coach Jim Montgomery finally abandoned it after about 10 games.

Whether there’s still a chance for a long-term connection to happen there remains to be seen, but they looked good together on the next shift after the Geekie goal. They buzzed the Carolina zone until Lindholm — parked at the top of the crease, an aspect of his game that Sacco thought might work — redirected a nice Pastrnak pass past Andersen with 13 seconds remaining in the period.

That was Lindholm’s 15th goal of the season and it gave the B’s their first two-goal lead since their 4-0 win over Tampa on March 8, the first day after the trade deadline.

Jeremy Swayman made several good saves early on in the second period to maintain the two-lead and the B’s made it 3-0 at 10:14.

On a mad scramble in the Carolina zone, Pastrnak possessed the puck in tight and cut across the top of the crease. Instead of going to the backhander, he held and held until Andersen was sufficiently out of his crease, then Pastrnak spun around to his forehand and beat the goalie to the open shortside. It was Pastrnak’s 38th of the year and third point of the night.

The Canes had a chance to get on the board when the B’s turned it over behind their own net and old friend Taylor Hall was fed out front. Hall sliced through the slot and had lots of room to lift a backhander into the net, but Swayman robbed him with a glove save.

Swayman was excellent in the second period, stopping all 14 shots he faced.

The good times continued to roll early in the third period. Just 1:28 in, Pastrnak scored his second of the night when he batted an aerial puck past Anderson for the 4-0 lead.

Pastrnak finished off the hat trick when threw a couple of fakes at a helpless Andersen and tucked it around the goalie.

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