On the day before American Thanksgiving (or, as we call it here, Thanksgiving), the Washington Capitals were reeling, losers of four-straight games and owners of the fourth-worst record in the Eastern Conference. With that holiday traditionally serving as an arbitrary milestone for sticking forks in more than just turkey and mashed potatoes, the Caps were on the precipice of having their season declared all but lost, the mountain of injuries and other assorted misfortune they’d suffered through autumn simply too much to overcome.
Since then, however, they’ve gone on an unlikely 7-2-1 tear that includes the four-game win streak they’re currently riding, equaling their prior year-to-date win total in half as many games and pulling to within a point of a wild card playoff spot (albeit with more games played than their closest competition for that seeding).