.500 – The Capitals points percentage, dating back to the start of the 2014 season, in games following a break of at least four days. Since Barry Trotz took over as the coach, the Caps have put together a record of just 7-7-4 when returning from a long layoff, and have been outscored 44-54 in those games.
It gets a little worse if you expand that to any break greater than three days, which has resulted in a record of 10-11-7 (.482 points percentage) under Trotz.
For whatever reason, the Caps just perform better on less rest in general – their sweet spot seems to be no less than one day and no more than two between games, where their record is a sparkling 147-40-20 (.758).
The good news? The majority of their schedule overall is going to fall into that 1-2 day sweet spot, particularly down the stretch. The bad news, in the immediate future, is that they have yet another lengthy break coming up for the All-Star Game at the end of the month.
They’ll look to improve upon their post-break record tomorrow night when they visit New Jersey.