Washington Capitals

Capitals vs the Coyotes: Loyalties Are Tested, Streams are Crossed
March 26, 2017, 11:31 AM ET [4 Comments]
James Tanner
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Alone in his Mom's basement sits a confused hockey blogger.

The Coyotes, the team that broke him into the biz', are on the road to visit the Washington Capitals, the first place team that is testing his loyalty.....what will he do?

Well, tape the game and watch it after the Leafs play, of course!!

When it comes to hockey in March/April, you best believe I am watching the games with the most playoff significance. The Caps are in first. The Coyotes last. (roughly speaking).

It's somewhat funny though - I'm probably the only person in the entire world who cared about last night's game - which amounted to nothing more than an exhibition match.



If I'm the Capitals: I'm looking to play my worst players the most and get through this game without anyone getting injured. The two points are nice, but this game is more of a hassle than anything.

If I'm the Coyotes: I feel fortunate to still be in the NHL. This is a chance to prove we're not complete losers and for our coach to get a great look at the future of this team. (As assistant coach of the Capitals, we hope).

The Coyotes pretty much accomplished this goal. Vrbata was down to 16 minutes, while Dvorak led the forwards in ice time. Fischer didn't play much, but him, Crouse, Perlini, Chychrun, Domi and Duclair all played.

It is disappointing to see Michalek, Goligoski, Murphy and Schenn taking so much ice-time away from DeAngelo and Chychrun, but then Tippitt is gonna Tip.

As for the Caps, any chance of resting their star players was blown away by the coach's idea to -for the most part - bench the Burakovsky, Eller and Connolly line.

Oh well. None of the guys were really over twenty minuets, and what are you supposed to do, nail Ovechkin to the bench for a month before the Playoffs?

Sports kind of suck that way - you can't really save your guys for the Playoffs because resting might be just as bad. Not to mention the 20 thousand people who paid to see Ovechkin.



Either way, it was perhaps the most meaningless game on the schedule, but from a personal perspective I did enjoy it.

The Coyotes are actually pretty fun to watch these days, laden as they are with rookies and young players.

The Capitals have now opened up a three point lead for the division win.

The Coyotes could win every game left and they still won't make it.

Plus Minus to follow soon.