Offensive Tips

[dmoney761]

Wanted to see if you guys had any tips or suggestions for offensive play as an individual player. Could be anything like moves/dekes or certain controls that have been successful. I've been having a little trouble scoring and getting my teammates good looks, so any help you could provide would be great. Thanks!

[no1xdraftpck]

I find that doing curls in the offensive zone helps some. Not being in one place sort of moving around creating passing lanes. Back door plays are always my favorite. Scoring seems to be harder on AI goalies.

[superbus]

It depends on what you are, basically. Snipers should try for open space since they're easy to knock off the puck; find a place to pop in a one-timer, or try to go for a backdoor play.

Power forwards should basically park their asses right in front of the goaltender, or fighting for it in the corners. Same for grinders and enforcers. Also, if you're bringing in the puck as one of these classes and have a lane, wind it up. These classes are not for finesse.

If you're a playmaker, that's where things get fun. You can run circles just to get some space, run a decoy, just generally try to open up spacing for your wings.

As any of the above:

* Use your points.
* Don't be afraid to wing it around the boards. These are, more or less, drop-in games until you get to the 8th division. These are not noted for discipline. So once you get the puck, many teams turn it into a game of "kill the guy with the puck". So sent it around, wear them down, and stretch them out. The passes that used to get through players tend to get deflected now, so it's important to learn how to chip the puck.
* On human goalies, test them a bit and do things out of the ordinary. Many guys don't know what they're doing yet, so you might catch them napping. Otherwise, work the puck around and open up space; someone will bite.
* If you're coming in from the side boards, especially against a human, don't be afraid to "drive by" the goaltender. That means just passing through long enough to screen him, but not to get hit by the puck. The motion can screw up goaltenders, and in past versions, it was programmed to screw up the computer, too.
* Against weaker players, just streaking down the wing and throwing it at the net might work once or twice. Against good players, it won't, and you'll just turn it over. This is not NHL '94.
* Finally, remember that shooting against a set goaltender will get stopped almost always unless there's a tip or a mistake. Always make the goalie move. Always make the goalie move. That little margin of error is likely the difference between a save and a goal.

[Drewismyname]

Teamwork. If you aren't glitch goaling you will only score when you use your team mates.

[dmoney761]

Quote: Originally Posted by Drewismyname

Teamwork. If you aren't glitch goaling you will only score when you use your team mates.

What are the glitch goals?

[steveeee]

I just got my first big hit playing as enforcer on LD... it took me 10 games before I got it. I was so happy.

any ways nice tips...

this game to me has more of a learning curve than before it seems like and I'm enjoying that aspect of the game. Even the skating to me is tougher... passing is tough.. shooting.. playing goalie. everything is more difficult to me in this game and takes some time adjusting to I notice. It's not like before where u can just pick it up and expect your skills to be there from the beginning.... it will take a while it seems like to master it.

any passing tips would be best. My only tip on passing I can give you is if the pass seems like it might be a broken up.. it will.. try to minimize ever trying a difficult pass bc it will never get thru. Sometimes even a simple pass you think that will cross the ice going the other way up to a forward from LD to RW is difficult to make but it takes practice. in years past you could simply just hitting the button and it would go automatically near that player. It's not like that anymore.. even your position and the way your holding your stick matters when passing now. I know a lot of people have complained that passing is horrible but to me I'm starting to appreciate the learning curve of it as it's a lot more realistic to me. You can't button mash or expect to pin point passing in this game. I would imagine a of people who like to run and gun and just expect to easily pass at will is going to not like this game.

[Madwolf]

I learned a little bit from my fellow OSers today:

Using the vision control (L2 or Left Trigger) will square you up to the puck and let you make more precise movements. This is great for one timers.

Vision Control also allows you to tip passes in front of the net. So if you're a Power Forward or the like it's good to get in front of the net and use vision control to post up to tip a shot from the point. We got 2 goals this way in our last game. I got an assist on one, and then I scored on the other because it screened the goalie.

Oh, and cycle, cycle, cycle.

[superbus]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madwolf

I learned a little bit from my fellow OSers today: Using the vision control (L2 or Left Trigger) will square you up to the puck and let you make more precise movements. This is great for one timers. Vision Control also allows you to tip passes in front of the net. So if you're a Power Forward or the like it's good to get in front of the net and use vision control to post up to tip a shot from the point. We got 2 goals this way in our last game. I got an assist on one, and then I scored on the other because it screened the goalie. Oh, and cycle, cycle, cycle.

That's a good point for people unfamiliar with the "new" (dual-stick) way of playing NHL. Vision control is just a fancy way of saying "face the puck". It works when the puck is behind the goal, too. So you can use L2 to face the guy setting up in the office, and with R1 held down, keep an active stick (this is something I'm adjusting to as it didn't work that well on the PS3).

That's a great tip for penalty killing forwards, BTW: hold R1 and L2 down, and wave the RS back and forth. That keeps an active stick in all passing lanes and at least makes that outside player think before deciding where to go with the puck.