/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tbt.s3.amazonaws.com/public/X64HRRUXGJHZ5KAJSHBAYFED6A.png "A screenshot of the Lightning's stream on Twitch, sharing a simulated game that wasn't played due to the NHL's pause.")
If you can’t play ... then simulate. The rest of the Lightning’s regular-season games are currently on hold, but the team is still trying to share them with fans. They will stream simulations generated by the video game NHL20 from EA Sports on Twitch.
Twitch streams video game content, typically of users playing live online. But these will be purely simulations, a glimpse of what might have been.
The Lightning are playing catchup to the original schedule with three games apiece on Monday and Tuesday nights. It will be Lightning vs. Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s not as a good as a live game, but it’s what we have. NHL.tv and Fox Sports Sun are airing replays of past games, and this is the only other avenue for action while the league is on pause to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In typical game play, NHL20 and other sports-based video games use simulations to skip ahead within a season or fast-forward time when the gamer’s character is not on the ice. In the current sports-less landscape, fans and teams are getting creative.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/4ce8da7f-6d54-4018-a798-b19042273c3e.png "Diana C. Nearhos - Former Times reporter")
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