Online, a lot of people play really aggressive, trying to hammer you to the boards as soon as you enter the offensive zone. The spinorama move can be pretty effective when facing such opponents since it allows you move towards the center of the ice in an 45 degree angel while maintaining the puck close to you. To execute, hold L2 (LT on 360) and circle the right stick from about 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock.

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Hold R1/RB (and aim with LS) and shoot a wind up shot to send a slap pass by the boards over to the other side as you enter offensive zone.

Here's a video about the overload strategy but the guy who's playing use the slap pass frequently to move the puck over to the other side of the ice. It's a less risky way than trying a cross ice pass.



Video by CHeadGamess

You can also use the slap pass in your defensive zone. Like I stated before - it's a less risky way of getting the puck over to the other side. But don't do it with an opponent right by you as he will be able to easily steal the puck from you when you wind up the slap pass.



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An important part of the game is to be in sync with your team mates. It's like a band. If the members don't play to the same beat it sounds terrible. In NHL 11 - you won't get your passes through.

So what you need to do is watch your team mates and figure out where they're going, when they'll get there and then time your own skating so you get into a position where you can send the puck away to the place your team mate is ending up at.

Let's look at a powerplay. I've set up behind goal and I'm using the Overload strategy. When I start moving over a little to the left winger side you'll se the right winger skating towards the middle of the ice (setting up for an overload of the left side of the ice). When he does this the first time, I fail timing my own move to his. But since my opponent doesn't attack me behind goal, I return to my starting position and so does my RW. When he's in place I trigger his skating pattern again by starting to move over to the left side of the ice. I skate slowly, pausing for a brief second just before I skate in full speed to get to a good position for a pass.



By the way - this is not a created play but a default pattern for the Overload strategy. Here's a nother version of the same pattern:



This type of timing you need to do all over the ice - like when dropping the puck into offensive zone - watch your team mates and send the puck away a split second before he crosses the blue line in full speed. This way you'll have a good chance beating your opponent to the puck - remember to hustle (click LS).



Sometimes you need slow down your skating or even make a little detour to give your team mates time to reach the slot. Try to have the patience to wait out your opponent. Don't go for chance passes through blocked lanes unless you're behind and desperate. Instead, pull back and see if you get another opportunity.





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What are your strategies, techniques for entering the zone?. I find myself too often getting hit or poke checked at the blue line. How do you find is the best way to penetrate the zone. One on one move, cut to the middle, manual deke. Would love to see some tips on variety of moves that can be used to gain the zone without losing possesion.

First I'd like to say that you should vary the way you enter the zone. With that said, here's a default tip:

Try to carry the puck from one side of the ice over to the other when entering offensive zone (in an effort to loosen up the defense since many human players play puckside). Also move in a zig zag manner, making you harder to hit. After crossing the red line, look for an opening - if there isn't one, dump the puck into the corner - if you think you can get through, try to do so with stick dekes (if facing poke checks) and loose puck dekes towards the half boards (if facing body checks). If you still got the puck:

1) Bring it down to the corner
2) Pass it back to the point, if I got an open team mate there
3) Protect the puck by the half boards until I have team mate to pass
4) Send a wrister towards goal and try to pick up a rebound
5) Dump it.
6) If you got no other options - pass it back into neutral zone.

If you're going to dump the puck you need an aggressive forecheck, otherwise you won't win the puck very often.

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I'd say a wrister 5 hole. But if the slot is open for you to move into (which it seldom is) this is how you score 9 times out of 10.



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The toe-drag deke was done by moving the RS to 7 o'clock, then I pulled L1 (LB) and moved RS and LS to 1 o'clock.

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This little rule I've set up for myself have worked wonders for me:

Coming into offensive zone along the half boards you're easy pray for opposing D's. Still, this might be the only way into the zone from time to time. If you can't make a pass or deke your way out of the situation, send a wrister towards the goalies far side post.

Most likely the puck will hit and rebound off the golies pads. So instead of causing a turnover, you've created a scoring chance.

Even if you don't get a rebound out of it, you might force the goalie to cover up the puck and get a faceoff. If you miss the goal all together, more often then not, one of your wingers will get to the puck in the corner. And if you are really lucky, you might send your opponent to the penalty box for interference, if he hits you after you've wristed the puck away.

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Coming up from behind the goal, moving over to the far post side and a little away from goal, will give you a nice scoring chance (if you got the puck on the forehand side). To make it even harder for the goalie (I'm not in this example), pull the RS right (or left if you come in from the right side).
The hard part isn't really to score here, but to even get the chance. Most people know about this so they're gonna defend the slot like crazy. So you need to open up the slot with some passing. Playing the overload strategy - I find this play working from time to time:

Taking direct shots while moving is hard. So when you're going for a onetimer you'll be more successful if you time your passes so that the receiver is facing the puck when taking the shot. To do this you need to watch your team mates while evading opponents and time it all so you get an open passing lane just when your team mate gets into position.

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The easiest way to light the lamp in NHL 10 is by putting the puck on net and having a teammate swoop in to clean up the rebound while the goalie is still recovering from the first save. Pulling off a successful rebound goal comes down to two factors:


Shot location
Teammate positioning


The shooter should aim low, far side post, to generate a rebound that bounces towards the middle or other side of the ice; however, knowing when to unleash the shot can be just as important as knowing where to place it.


Look at my earlier posts:


Wrist shots generate better rebounds
Rebounds


Ideally, you want to shoot the puck a stride or two after your teammate crosses the blue line. This way he will be hitting the crease right as the puck comes off the goalie’s pads. Once you get the timing down, the rebound becomes one of the easiest ways to create scoring chances in NHL 10.


Deflections/Screens


For whatever reason, the default "screen effect" in NHL 10 is significantly lower than what it was last year, so screen goals are much less prevalent overall than they were in NHL 09. To compensate, NHL 10 adds several new animations for deflections, including some that let you "bat in" pucks that are hanging in mid-air.


All the deflection animations are randomly generated, so all a player can do is to face the shooter (by holding the left trigger/L2) and keeping his stick in the shooting lane.


Forget about trying to screen the goalie -- deflections are NHL 10's tactic of choice in front of the net.


If you’re going for a deflection it’s important to take the shot when a team mate is positioned outside the shooting lane,  so that the puck does not end up hitting him instead of his stick.


Dekes


Like many things in NHL 10, the effectiveness of your dekes depends largely on your player rating. Generally speaking, a player with a deke rating in the range of 80-85 should be able to fake a goalie out with one or two simple dekes. For players with lower ratings, more dekes are often necessary to get the goalie out of position and open up a shooting lane.
Remember to move both your body and your stick.


Look at my earlier deke posts.


One-Timers


NHL 10 removed the tape-to-tape passing from the earlier games which makes it a bit more difficult to generate one-timer goals in NHL 10, but if you can make the pass and your aim is right, the actual shot will go in more times than not.
A play like this will almost certainly light up the lamp.



When finishing the one-timer, try to aim your shot at one of three places:


Near-side top shelf
Five hole
Low opposite corner


What I wrote about onetimers in NHL 09 still applies: More on scoring in NHL 09
With proper positioning, the one timer makes for a great tactic against defenses that over pursue the puck carrier during an odd-man rush; however, if teams start playing the pass and guarding against the one-timer, the puck carrier might want to think about shooting low at the goalie’s pads to generate a "bank pass" for a rebound goal.


It may not always be pretty, but with goalies still being as superhuman as ever in NHL 10, sometimes you have to think like a video game to score in a video game.
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Here's an instructional series from Canadian television:

Think Hockey part 1 - 9

The five hole is the area between the goalies legs and it's one of the best places to aim for if you're left alone on the break away or in a shootout. The goalie, however, protects the 5 hole with his stick, so you need to taunt the goalie with a little deke to make him leave it open. This is how to do it:

Keys to the Power Play

• Win faceoffs
• Enter the zone with speed (look to create chances off
the rush)
• Move the puck low to high or corner to corner – open seams
• Use your PP strategy in the right way to create numerical superiority
• Avoid blocked shots
• If there's traffic in front of the net, look for screens and deflections
• Pursue rebounds with pressure (hold L2 and push RS up)
• Don’t allow yourself to be covered (release to open ice)


All of the above is pretty self explanatory except perhaps for using the right PP strategy. For instance, if you're using the umbrella PP and your opponent does nothing but protect his own net, you will have a hard time getting pucks through close to the crease, as you can see in the example below.  

If you want a player behind net, and the PK box is passive, the overload works better, since you get support by the half boards.



However, If the PK plays an aggressive, large box, the umbrella works if you want to find openings in the slot, since the PK tries to put pressure on the PP team outside their slot. This results in them leaving the area around the goal crease open to exploit if their check doesn't work.



This example shows the PK teams aggression better, playing a staggered, large box. Compare the size of their box and their pressure to the PK strategy in the first example.



Now let's go back to the example where the PK team is passive, defending the slot with every man. The best PP strategy for this scenario is to take shots from the point (I use the Shooting PP in the example). Since the opposing team are not leaving the slot I try to make my opponent move a little at least, hoping he will screen his goalie. But as you can see here PK does a great job at clearing the slot (the right thing to do) and they don't get in the way of their goalie. So when I take my first shot, the goalies field of vision is clear and he makes a save. When I take my second shot, though, there's a lot more traffic infront of the net and I score.



Quick puck movement is very important. It makes it harder for the defending team to shift into the right positions, resulting in openings or, as in this case, a D screening his own goalie.



Even if you don't change your PP strategy to the PK's strategy, you can change the way you play. Here's an example on how to get a 2 - 1 facing a diamond PK with a umbrella PP (you're going to need a good passing line to get the pucks through):
Umbrella vs. Diamond

When going for rebounds you might involuntary check a player instead of taking a shot. To avoid this, press Vision Control when in front of the net. This disables bodychecks, but only close to the net in the offensive zone.

If you're not playing a weaker opponent, choosing an aggressive defensive and offensive strategy can be very dangerous. I usually start out with normal pressure and staggered as my defensive strategy. When it comes to forechecking I'm very passive at the beginning of each game, often going for the 1-2-2, and when attacking I choose the standard breakout (check the strategy list for more info).

If needs be I go for a more aggressive approach, starting with a change of the breakout, then pressure and if that doesn't do it I change def strategy and the forecheck.

If I manage to equalize and especially if the game goes into OT, I go back to playing it safe. This because you're extra vulnerable to break aways in OT, since it's easier to get a long pass through playing 4 vs. 4.

In this clip I won in OT against a guy who, not only missed the pass with his D, but also got body checked, leaving just one D to try to stop my break away.

When it comes to passing, I also play it safe (unless I'm desperate). Instead of going for a direct pass, winger to winger or center to winger, i try to pass the puck around via my D's to the other side if I'm not sure of making the pass.




Also I'm no stranger to dumping the puck into the offensive zone. This is actually a great and very safe way of creating scoring chanses. If you dump the puck diagonally down to the boards, your wingers got a decent shot at gaining control of the puck. Also if they do, they've probably allready beaten a defender who's now out of position. If you don't win the puck, at least you got it deep into offensive zone and you got lots of time getting into your defensive positions.