Back on Oct. 7, 2005 the Capitals and Thrashers hooked up for the first time in the post-lockout era. The Thrashers took a 7-3 decision from the Caps in Washington that night, and thumped Washington 8-1 in Atlanta the very next night. Those two games have set the stage for the 28 games between the two clubs that have followed. 

Caps-Thrashers contests have been mostly high-scoring affairs producing often lopsided results. Only four of the 30 games featured a combined total of four or fewer goals, excluding those things that went across the goal line during those things called shootouts. Eight of the 30 games were decided by a margin of three or more goals. 

In 20 of the 30 games, at least one of the two teams has scored four or more goals in the game. Again, that excludes anything that may have occurred after the conclusion of overtime. 

There have been a dozen one-goal decisions mixed in, with nine of those requiring overtime or a shootout to decide the result. The Caps are 2-3 in overtime games and 2-2 in shootout games against Atlanta since the lockout.

Both teams have averaged better than three goals per game in the 30 contests. Although Atlanta has outscored the Caps 108-94 in the 30 games, Washington has picked up at least a point in 19 of them (14-11-5). 

Tonight? Who knows? It's Semyon Varlamov for Washington against Ondrej Pavelec for the Thrashers. With a couple of kid goaltenders facing a couple of potent offensive attacks, we could be in store for another high-scoring exhibition at Philips Arena tonight.