Arizona Coyotes look to defeat league leading Washington Capitals

The Arizona Coyotes are looking to get their first win in four games. To do that, they will get another bite at the apple against the Washington Capitals.

View from Washington

For more on the Washington, check out Japers’ Rink.

The Washington Capitals are coming off of a 5-3 win over the lowly Colorado Avalanche on their way to attempt to clinch the Metropolitan Division and the Presidents’ Trophy. The Caps are currently four points ahead of Columbus, who is starting to slow down. Look for the Capitals to battle as much as they can against the Coyotes this evening.

The Caps are currently on a six game winning streak and are not looking for a team to break that any time soon. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, if the Coyotes manage to get a point out of this game, it will be a win in our book.

View from Arizona

The Coyotes are struggling with scoring lately, only scoring four goals in their last four games. The last offensive outing was again Tampa Bay on March 21st. The Coyotes will need to throw everything they have at the net if Braden Holtby is in the game. If its Philip Grubauer, they still need to get past the Caps defense and hope for a good chance.

This is where we will start to see a lot of the youth playing. This is now a tryout for next season, and to see where the younger players will need to improve over the summer. Don’t be surprised if you see a bit of line blendering going on from Tippett.

Three Questions

1. Will the Coyotes score more than one goal? If Braden Holtby is in net, probably not. If it’s Grubauer, they might have a chance.

2. Will the vets play with some passion? Over the last few games, they have seemingly played with a little less energy. Is it due to the season being almost over and they are down at the bottom, or is it that the season was just that rough.

3. Will they stop Alex Ovechkin from going to the Ovie Spot and scoring? We all know what Ovechkin is going to do on the power play, but no one can stop it. Maybe they can tonight?

Players to Watch

Washington- Alex Ovechkin- Ovechkin is a streaky goal scorer and has found his touch again after scoring his 30th goal of the season against the Coyotes. He scored a hat trick against the Wild on the 28th, but was quiet against the Avalanche. You never know what he is going to do.

Arizona – Alex Goligoski- Goligoski is starting to show everyone why the Coyotes signed him in the summer. He is starting to look like the defenseman he was in Dallas. With his latest goal, he has been helping keep the Coyotes in games when scoring is low.

Injury Report

Washington - The Capitals are running with a fully healthy squad. They have the least amount of man games lost this season.

Arizona – Shane Doan is probable for tonights game. Kevin Connauton and Brad Richardson continue to be out indefinitely with an upper body and leg injuries respectively. Jamie McGinn has left the team for a few days due to a death in his family.

Puck Drop

Tonight’s game will be at 7:00 pm Arizona time and will be airing on Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Go and on the radio on ESPN Phoenix 620AM.