Phoenix Coyotes v Washington Capitals Live

Still in the race for home ice advantage halfway through the season, the Coyotes surprised many fans around the league with their performance in this year’s NHL campaign. Hoping to steal one on the road, the Phoenix Coyotes will head to D.C. to take on the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on Sunday at midnight GMT.

Without any doubts, the Caps’ success this year can be attributed to a large extent to their exciting offense around All-Star left wing Alex Ovechkin. More specifically, Washington was nearly unstoppable as they lead the league with 182 goals in just 48 games. However, it was not only Ovechkin who facilitated the Capitals’ run to the top of the Eastern Conference. In fact, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and Alexander Semin could all potentially break the 100-point mark in 2009-10. That said, the Caps showed some defensive shortcomings but made up for it by steamrolling their opponents offensively.

In contrast, the Coyotes did not rely on anyone in particular on the offensive end of the ice, but evenly distributed the workload among many shoulders. Albeit Phoenix did neither score a lot of goals nor excel defensively, Shane Doan and company were able to make clutch plays and close out contested games. Being tied for the fifth place in the Western Conference, Dave Tippett’s squad certainly has the chance to stay in the playoff mix down the stretch. Yet, the Capitals offense might just be a little bit too much for the young squad from Arizona on Sunday night. Ultimately, Washington’s up-tempo hockey appears to be bound to cause a wide range of problems for the Coyotes who will have to bring their A-game in order to avoid a loss on the road.

You can watch all games of the Phoenix Coyotes and Washington Capitals right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.