AI Goalie Poke-Check Needs Work
The current goalie 'lunging poke check' mechanic needs work. For every rare occurrence where it's successful there's many more instances where it serves no purpose but to prevent the goalie from being able to make saves. This has been an issue for a few years. Last night there was a couple of really frustrating instances that finally prompted me to make a post.
Example 1: This is the most common occurrence. Player goes backhand on a breakaway. Instead of following the puck and having a chance at making a save the goalie half-heatedly pokes at the puck leaving him stationary and half the net open for an easy goal.
Example 2: Loose puck in front of the net. Instead of moving over to get into position to at least have a chance at making a save the goalie does a lunging poke check that does nothing but making him stationary and leaving the net open. Bonus points for no goalie interference on this play.
Example 3: This one's frustrating for a couple of reasons. The poke has to go through the offensive player so it's not going to make contact with the puck anyway. And even if it did all it would do is prevent the defender from having a chance to pick up the puck. Not a real fan of the defender losing the puck forward here, but that's irrelevant. In the end, if the goalie just followed the puck and played his position this should have been an easy save.
Example 4: This is just a thing of beauty. If the goalie would have actually used his stick to prevent the pass from coming out of the corner I'd be ecstatic. Instead he manages to corral the puck and pull it deftly into his own net. The thing here is that this would likely be a goal anyway since the defence isn't in good position. I'd just rather the goalie either make a simple play to stop the pass ( not a huge lunging attempt ) or move across the net with the puck to at least give him a chance at making a save. The big lunge just freezes him in place and instead of maybe having a 10-20% chance at a save it's essentially a sure goal.
