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Giving a realistic example for how fights do change the game is the Lucic incident on Miller. I bet if Buffalo had a Tough Guy on the ice or at least players who would fight Buffalo wouldn't have struggled so much. Players who fight bring teams together and a situation like that could have helped them form an identity much earlier in the season.
I also think most games and sims have never got fights right in terms of what they are all about. For example I've heard several people already state: "A won fight should give a morale boost, while a loss should not." First off, most fights aren't really wins or losses and even if sometimes if a player slightly loses the losing team might get more of a morale boost. Let's take this fictitious example:
Leafs versus Detroit.
Phaneuf on the boards passes it up to Lupul. Lupul turns to go up ice! BOOM What a hit by Kronwall... Lupul is down on the ice it looks like he's hurt... What is this Kessel is dropping the gloves?!
In real life as long as Kessel holds his own this is generally a positive thing for a leafs as you got a star player sticking up for your team mates and a guy that doesn't normally fight. (Extra morale boost, but even if Colton Orr jumped in it would still be good morale.)
In fact, I don't even think it's so much about a fight giving morale or not, it's more like the lack of the fight i.e. the Buffalo example. (Than stars start to second guess themselves and lose confidence in their game.) Tough guys are just their to make sure stars can play. So lack of tough guys or players willing to fight should hurt even the most skilled teams down the road.
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