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The Capitals are also enjoying their second full season practicing in a state-of-the-art facility atop the garage in close-in Arlington, having moved from their old home in the outer suburbs.

The more convenient location has given the team greater exposure. Practices are easier for fans to watch — it’s not uncommon to see 100 or more people at a weekday morning session and perhaps 1,000 on a weekend — and for the media to cover. Players also have a shorter commute, giving them more rest time on game days.

It also helps that the Capitals are the only team in town that’s really good. The Wizards are by far the worst team in the NBA’s Eastern Conference this season. The Nationals lost more than 100 games and had baseball’s worst record last season. The Redskins went 8-8 and missed the playoffs, while college basketball pillars Georgetown and Maryland look like NIT candidates.

The Capitals score plenty of goals — that always helps attract the hockey novices — and they simply look better on the ice after the decision last season to switch back to their old traditional uniforms with red as the dominant color. Leonsis has also used his marketing savvy, honed from his years as an AOL executive, to make the arena experience more lively, with fun promotions and videos.

It’s a long way from the embarrassing days of 1998, when the Capitals played in front of thousands of empty seats during the playoffs on the way to the franchise’s only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals.

“It’s a fascinating thing to experience,” said general manager George McPhee, who has been with the team for 12 years. “It seemed like a lot of things came together all at once.

“We got back to our original colors, which was important, and we have this fabulous facility where people can watch our players, and we have some really entertaining players, their style of play is fun to watch. And the team is winning. And I think one of the other things that’s important is we’re a much better organization business-wise, we have far better infrastructure to be able to market the team and capture momentum.”

Leonsis sees the difference in the comments he gets from fans. He shared one recent e-mail that reads: “I am a current Nationals season-ticket holder and your product far surpasses anything I have seen from the new (baseball) stadium.”

The owner has a goal of starting next season with 14,000 season-ticket holders, up from 10,000 or so at the start of this season.

“Everything’s worked,” Leonsis said. “Now we have to win a championship. We only have this one major hurdle in front of us now, and we can have a singularity in our purpose — which is nothing else matters now but success as a Stanley Cup team.”

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