One blemish. That is all anyone has managed against Azul all season — a 3-3 draw in June — and it belongs to Verde. Now the runaway leader (10 points, 3-1-0, +9, alone in first and five clear) hosts the only side ever to deny them: Verde. Do it twice, and Verde's signature first win over a contender is theirs.

Azul are the most complete team in Sunday Night, and their king towers over the night: Pato Gómez, the all-time scoring leader with 106 points, the first player ever past 100, riding a record 22-game point streak off a hat-trick, five-point outing — a four-time Campeón Goleador whose six career hat tricks are tied for the most ever. Two-time Mejor Defensa Lorenzo Torres Landa (18 goals, 18 assists) quarterbacks a 23% power play. Verde counter with Sunday Night's highest team shooting percentage (20%), Adrián Contreras — third all-time, the best player never to win a ring — and a surging Fran Lara on career-best goal and point streaks.

In net, Azul own Sunday Night's finest team save percentage (90.7%) behind Eduardo Escobar, fresh off his first career shutout; Verde answer with Emmanuel Santiago, the all-time save-percentage leader and three-time Mejor Portero. Both penalty kills are perfect — though Verde, strangely, have yet to draw a single power play all season. History says they can hang; history also says they cannot win.