But the Capitals' biggest NHL 20 moment was when Alex Ovechkin went one-on-one with The Great One. "They're a small consolation to the real games, but we all thought we should create programming to keep people happy," said Zach Leonsis, senior vice president of strategic initiatives for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns multiple teams including the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics. The Washington Capitals have also built broadcasts around NHL 20 games, becoming the first NHL team to air simulated games on their regional sports network, NBC Sports Washington. The Los Angeles Kings had announcers Alex Faust and Jim Fox giving scouting reports around streamed games that featured Kings mascot Bailey - aka Tim Smith, senior manager of game presentation and events - controlling L.A. Other teams have blurred the lines between real and virtual sports. "But the great thing about it was the way they leaned into it like they would have in the real world." "The virtual experience is going to be different," Dexter said. While the Devils had the settings on the game adjusted to "as close to real as our game allows," according to EA Sports marketing director Evan Dexter, that "career-high" 98-save performance from Schneider showed the gap between the virtual product and the actual one. In picking up where the season left off, the Devils wanted to treat these games like they would regular-season contests, complete with: pregame matchup coverage on their social channels having organ music and the national anthem performed remotely before the games drafting play-by-play man Matt Loughlin to do commentary writing game stories about the results and, most famously, holding postgame interviews with actual Devils players such as Schneider and Kyle Palmieri about the performances of their digital avatars.
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"From that entertainment perspective, our marketing department got together to figure out how to continue to engage with fans at a high level, knowing that they're going to miss Devils hockey." "There were three pillars we discussed: entertainment, inspiring hope and helping people heal," Reynolds said. The Devils were one of the first teams to fully embrace simulated games as a way to generate content for fans. NHL Viewers Club: 'Miracle,' the story of the 1980 USA Hockey team.It's been really cool to see all the NHL players reaching out to fans, starting streams." Editor's Picks We're seeing players that have been away for a few years coming back to play.
"To see fans, players, celebrities using NHL 20 to fill the void of the hockey season. "It's been incredible, to be honest," said Sean Ramjagsingh, the producer for EA Sports' NHL series. But they've never used the game in the way it's been used since the real games were paused on March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The NHL and its teams have dabbled in the EA Sports series for years, including the league's Gaming World Championship tournament that's now in its third year. To hear that is pretty powerful and pretty incredible." "One of the most satisfying things has been getting a note from parents saying that these simulated games are the first sense of normalcy that their kids have had. "In a way, it's been a lifeline for fans and for players," Devils team president Jake Reynolds told ESPN.
The game has been used to play out the season and playoffs, to keep players connected to fans, as a source for original content and, in many cases, as a means to raise money for those in need.
The Devils are among over a dozen NHL teams that have used EA Sports' NHL 20 to continue bringing game action to hockey-starved fans during the league's COVID-19 shutdown. Schneider's 98-save performance in New Jersey's 6-4 win over the Calgary Flames on March 19 existed only in pixels and lines of code. Tonight probably wasn't one of them," he said. "There are games where you just have to give a lot of credit to your teammates. In fact, he hadn't even broken a sweat during the game. For a goalie who had just faced 102 shots on goal, Cory Schneider of the New Jersey Devils was looking curiously rested in his postgame interview.