Arizona Coyotes vs Washington Capitals
Sometimes, having a really bad streak can inspire you to win the most unlikely of games. That’s totally what’s going to happen tonight, right?
The Coyotes have lost their past…. how many contests? Three. The team has lost their last three contests. 3-6-1. GUYS.
In contrast, the Washington Capitals have started off the season 4-4-2. It’s not the best, but they get some praise (that the fans will probably beat into the ground for the rest of the season) for shutting out the Boston Bruins. DO NOT FORGET THAT THEY’RE ON A THREE-GAME LOSING STREAK, THOUGH, AS WELL. This is going to be a ‘which team is having a worse streak’ contest- and hopefully the Coyotes come out on top.
Details for Sunday’s game:
DATE: Sunday, Nov. 2nd
TIME: 7:00 pm (EST)
LOCATION: Washington, District of Columbia
ARENA: Verizon Center
TV INFO: Fox Sports Arizona, CSMA
Keys to Victory
Can… can we win?
Puck Prose
The Coyotes have yet to confirm who’s going to start in net, though I’ll put my money on Devan Dubnyk finally being given his shot to turn this team’s luck around.
The Capitals aren’t divisional rivals, but they’re a team that’s in a pretty similar boat to the Coyotes. Could be better than they are, have some strong talent (that seem to be underperforming), missed the playoffs last year and aren’t quite over it yet.
My biggest criticism of the Caps is always that captain Alexander Ovechkin isn’t a team player, making him the antithesis of Captain Coyote Shane Doan. The Caps still have a (weirdly okay this year) Mike Green, who we all love to hate, though, and Ovi is one of the top talents in the league. You can love his play, you can hate his play, he’s still an elite skater and there’s no way around it.
The Caps have confirmed that they’re starting backup Justin Peters, so this could be a battle of the backups. The Caps have had Brooks Orpik out, though I’m never really sure exactly how much of an impact that has on their overall play. The Caps have a fast game, and the Coyotes need to work on drawing penalties and elevating their even-strength play in order to eke out a win.
After Saturday night’s shutout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes (yep, that is actually a thing that happened), the Coyotes need to pull off a win tonight. I just don’t know how likely that is to happen.
Predictions:
This is a pretty bare-bones preview, because I’m still pretty depressed about last night. I say we lose in overtime, cut our losses, run back home, and start fresh.