.520 – The Capitals’ win percentage at home this season, with a record of 13-8-4 in front of the hometown crowd. That’s the lowest of any Eastern Conference team currently in a playoff position, and tied with Minnesota for second-lowest among all playoff-positioned teams overall (with Colorado bringing up the rear at just .435).
This is a fairly new and somewhat troubling development for a team that has been one of the better home teams for years; since 2005-06, they have a win percentage of .604 at home; over the past five seasons, that’s jumped up to .661, second-best in the League behind only the Lightning.
Some of this year’s dropoff, of course, is due to their recent struggles overall; the Caps have lost 10 of their last 13, with only one of the three wins coming on home ice. They’re currently on a four-game home losing streak (0-3-1), and have dropped five of the last six in DC.
All this is to say that the Caps have an excellent opportunity to not only improve upon that home win percentage but turn their recent fortunes around with this upcoming home stretch, an 11-day period in which they will play a season-high six games at home.