Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow

It was not pretty and they only played one good period (a superb first) but it was just enough for the Boston Bruins to escape with a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals last night at the TD Garden.

The win snapped Boston's (17-10-4) three-game losing streak and also extended Washington's (18-12-4) skid to eight straight losses.

If you even a passing interest in hockey, please check out HBO's 24/7 about the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins. It debuted last week and it's a buildup for their Winter Classic on New Year's Day. It's hard to imagine how Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau is acting in the locker room and at practice now that his team is completely off the rails. If they lose a couple more games, right or wrong he'll most likely be unemployed.

There are two reasons the Bs won: 1) they went up 3-0 in the first period and 2) they have Tim Thomas (39 saves) who is still playing absolutely bananas and is the top goaltender in the NHL, it's not even debatable.

Patrice Bergeron gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 3:27 off assists from Blake Wheeler and Adam McQuaid.

Andrew Ference scored his first goal in 99 games (really) as the Bs took a 2-0 lead less than five minutes later. Brad Marchand and David Krejci assisted on that one.

After a Washington timeout, McQuaid fought Capitals forward Matt Bradley.

At the time, it didn't help the Caps at all as Wheeler capped his incredible period with a goal from Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk.

Given the urgency of the game and the opponent (who was even more desperate), this was one of Boston's best periods of the season.

Bradley got Washington on the board in a second period off assists from David Steckel and Matt Hendricks.

Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth (18 saves) looked really shaky in the first period but Boudreau stayed with him and he was rewarded as he didn't allow another goal.

Some scrub named Karl Alzner scored off a shot from the point in the third period as Washington made it 3-2 Boston but they couldn't force overtime as Thomas made countless crazy saves.

It's a big week for Bs as last night was the start of a three-game homestand against quality teams: Washington, Anaheim and Atlanta. The Bruins host the Ducks tomorrow night.