The remainder of the NHL season is in limbo, but the chirping never stops. Now even EA Sports has gotten in on the trash talk.
NHL 20received its latest patch on Friday, bringing a handful of gameplay tweaks and bug fixes that usually come to the annual hockey franchise around this time of year. What makes this one standout, though, is a patch note that takes a playful dig at Boston Bruins heel Brad Marchand and his infamous shootout flub.
From the list of general fixes brought on bythe game’s 1.6.0 update: “Fixed a case where players other than Marchand would lose the puck at the start of a penalty shot.”
For the uninitiated, or those that just need a quick refresher, Marchand is one of the league’s top wingers, and at the same time, one of its most hateable. Whether it be throughdirty hitsor…uh…licking a guy…Marchand is an expert pest that rarely fails at getting under an opposing team’s skin, which means luring out the ire of its fans too.
So, with such an extensive history of being the league’s “rat,” nearly every hockey fan took the chance to get their shots in when he completely whiffed on a game-deciding shootout attempt in a Jan. 13 matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. AddNHL’sdevelopment team to that list, even when it’s nearly four months after the fact (although it wasn’t like anyone else was going to let him live it down soon anyway).
It should be noted that theNHLgames are produced out of EA’s Vancouver studio, a city that especiallyhas plenty of reasonto hate Marchand and the Bruins.
It should also be noted that the fix itself really isn’t anything more than a late April Fools' joke. Players begin shootouts and penalty shots inNHL 20with the puck on their stick automatically, so there’s no chance of overskating it like Marchand actually did. You have to make a conscious effort to lose the puck from the get-go.
The patch notes forNHL 20’s1.6.0 update can be seen in full by clickinghere.
DualShockers' own Michael Ruiz reviewed the gamewhen it released back in September and, between a list of smart (but small) gameplay improvements and a variety of modes offered, wrote that it’s “the best the series has been this console generation.”
The game’s also the closest thing to NHL hockey right now, since the coronavirus outbreakput the season on holdback on March 12.
