76.9 – The Capitals’ point percentage against the Atlantic Division since Barry Trotz took over behind the bench. Dating back to the start of the 2014-15 season, the Caps have posted a sparkling record of 39-10-5 vs. Atlantic teams, outscoring opponents 151-103 over that span.
Despite their overall success against the other Eastern Conference division, the Caps have dropped two straight against Atlantic teams – Saturday’s shootout loss in Tampa and the 4-2 loss in Toronto a week prior. And even with those two losses, they are 4-1-1 against the division so far this year.
The recent losing “streak” of two games marks just the third time in 55 games that the Caps have lost back-to-back games to the Atlantic. They previously had a three-game losing streak (falling to Buffalo, Florida and Montreal) back in January/February of 2016, and dropped four straight in October/November 2014 (Detroit, Tampa, Buffalo and Toronto).
Those two losing streaks bookmarked a stretch from 12/9/14 to 1/10/16 in which the team lost just 5 times in 35 tries against the Atlantic, three of which came in overtime or the shootout.