.636 – The Capitals’ points percentage from Thanksgiving Eve games dating back to the 2005-06 season, compiling a 6-3-2 record over that span. The night before Thanksgiving has traditionally been a home game for the Caps, as 9 of their last 11 have been in the friendly confines of DC.
Tonight will mark the second time in the last 11 seasons that the Caps will host the Senators on Thanksgiving Eve; the last time Ottawa made a pre-Thanksgiving visit to our nation’s capital was back in 2013, when the Sens handed the Caps a 4-2 loss.
Prior to this season, the only other team that had made multiple Thanksgiving Eve visits was the Thrashers/Jets. In fact, the Caps have faced that franchise a whopping five times in their last 11 pre-Thanksgiving contests… including Glen Hanlon’s final game behind the bench (a 5-1 loss to the Thrashers), and this infamous fight-filled affair, in which the two teams combined for 172 penalty minutes: