.409 – The win percentage for the home team in outdoor games since they became an annual (and now semi-annual) tradition back in 2008. Going back to the inaugural Winter Classic a decade ago, the away team has won 14 outdoor games compared to just nine by the host team, the visitors holding a slim goal margin of 62-59 over that span.
The trend was heavily weighted towards the visiting team early on, with away teams taking eight of the first ten outdoor games; since then, it’s balanced out a bit, with home teams winning four of the last five.
The Caps are one of the nine home teams to have earned a victory against their hometown crowd in outdoor games, having toppled the Blackhawks at Nats Park back in 2015. Their first outdoor appearance was exactly four years earlier when they played the role of victorious visitor to the home-team Penguins.
With tomorrow’s game in Annapolis, the Caps will be just the fifth team to repeat as outdoor game hosts (and the Flyers slated to become the sixth when they act as the home team against the Penguins next February), and are one of 12 teams to have multiple appearances in outdoor games overall. Of those 12, only three other teams – Toronto, Ottawa, and the Rangers – join the Caps in the dubious distinction of being undefeated in all outdoor appearances so far… a streak that ends for one of those teams tomorrow.