Just wanted to mention some things in here that we talked about last night.
As bad as certain parts of this game are, I think it's been out long enough that we just have to accept it for what it is and make the best of what EA gave us. Despite the flaws in the game itself, there are still things that we could be doing better if we want to give ourselves the best shot of winning games.
Overall, I feel like we've gotten a bit sloppy. Honestly, I feel like it starts with me. Because of the framerate stutter, I've had a horrible time this year winning faceoffs. But after screwing around with our team region setting last night, and switching it to Europe (which made things worse), and then finally to North America East, it SEEMED to actually get better.
In the last 4-5 games we played, I was winning about 2/3 of the faceoffs. And of course, the more we hold the puck, the better our attack is. I'm hoping that wasn't a placebo, or just some weird coincidence, but one of the games was even against a team of 5...so we had 8 connections on that one, which is encouraging.
But other things I think we've gotten a bit lax with is just fundamental stuff. We've been puck chasing a bit on defense, getting too many guys on the same side of the ice, and just leaving the other side wide open. I know a lot of times we rotate to cover each other on switches, but we've just gotta be careful chasing when it's not necessary. If there are two guys pressuring the puck already, we don't really need to add a third. Going along with that, just trying to work together better when we're forechecking. You don't always have to make a play on the puck yourself, but if you drive the puck carrier right into a teammate, it's going to have a good outcome.
Another thing is our passing and puck handling in general. I think at times, we tend to get too fancy or try to do too much with the puck. Whether it's holding it off the faceoff, or when rushing it into the zone, we've gotta get back to seeing the play in front of us. Sometimes a dump is a good play, but sometimes it's just a turnover. It can really be the same thing as forcing a bad pass. No play is going to be the right play every time. We gotta see what's in front of us, and take it. If a guy is open, get him the puck. If a shot is there, take the shot. Sometimes forcing "real hockey principles" into this game just doesn't work. It is an EA game after all.
Regardless of how the game wants to screw us, I feel a lot better losing a game where we played right and did everything we could. But if we're getting outshot, getting doubled on time on attack, have a passing percentage below 30%, losing 70% of the faceoffs, etc. we can't be mad that we lost the game. I also don't want us having the attitude of "well, the game sucks anyway...why bother?" Because if that's actually true, then yeah...we shouldn't bother. And that's when we start losing games to the CPU...with an all star team. We're better than that.
At least after the way we finished the night, I feel encouraged. That game against the 5 man team (which was an Elite team), it was Brandon, Alan, and myself. Alan ended up getting dropped from the game (I want to say it was in the 2nd period), but Brandon and I played them to 5 OTs. Honestly, we should have won the game, but their goalie did a ridiculous back to back desperation save thing where it looks like the game glitched he threw himself to the other side of the net so quickly.
They won on a pass that our defenseman deflected up into the air, hit off their guy's face, went between our goalie's pads, and then was poked into the net. A shitty way to lose, but we played great. I think we had 50 shots in the game, and I won 49 faceoffs (to their 20-something). Those are the kind of efforts we're capable of. We just can't let the way the game ends discourage us from playing the right way. If we do that, we're just welcoming the losses.