That is a screen capture from a video of the goal, so YES I DID WATCH IT.

Also, defensive zone coverage is about positioning. Man coverage. Puck bounces don't matter if you have inside positioning like you are supposed to. Neither Smith, n'or Hoffman had that. That is why Skinner was ably to shift laterally into open ice.

Here is a shot just before:


Really it was more Smith than anything, as he was puck watching. Hoffman was softly covering Murphy, because he was the high man, but pulled away to make a move for the puck. Hoffman was a bit too puck focused, but he did start out covering a guy and made the mistake a lot of forwards do by trying to play the puck when there is weak surrounding support. Hoffman was more unlucky on this play than anything. If he was able to hold the puck and fire it away instead of bouncing through him, it never wouldn't have gotten to Skinner, who Smith should have had covered.

EDIT - I also typed Stone instead of Smith in my original post. That was a mistake. Sorry.
- MaxTLimit

There was like 4 seconds left on the clock

The entire team was scrambling

Hoff clearly had inside position on his man but tried to get in front of puck with his stick (before it went to skinner)

Smith is taking the passing lane from Skinner

And it's not like the puck went to Hoff, it landed on Skinners stick perfectly.

It was bad luck for the whole squad

Ive said this a thousand times now and only Terror and Sens_Army are the only others that see this... Its NO JUST ABOUT HIS DEFENSIVE GAME. Sure, it sucks, but thats forgiven given his goal scoring ability. Its that he repeatedly makes minor hockey mistakes. He wasn't put out there in the final minute. He has a one minute and 23 second shift when the rest of his line had a 40 second shift. When you're out in the last little bit you change the second you get a chance, even if its ten seconds, because you never know when your next chance might come and you don't want to get stuck out there tired, which he did. Hoff had a big hard on to score an empty netter and in turn cost the sens the game. He is always making selfish minor hockey plays like that. Stick handling at the blue line, throwing in front instead of cycling, taking two minute shifts, clearing the zone long before the puck. All of these are not even related to talent, its just a matter of doing, which he refuses, and thats why he gets poop on by the coach. And then he's given a chance and he (frank)s up and costs his team the game.
- KarlOrBust

Yeah, this is the criticism that makes the most sense to me. Hoffman isn't very good at defence, but then again these are the Ottawa Senators - they just aren't very good at defence. I don't expect Hoffman to play great defence, but it does make sense that we should be able to expect him to play like he gives a poop about the team.

I think it's being overblown at this point, though. A goal drought has him under a microscope but I think this lack of discipline is common to the team.

Ottawa will finish bottom 8th - 14th place. I'm hoping closer to 8th. They have some holes to fill in this roster and a strong draft this summer is impeccable to them contending in a few years. I'm routing for a Colorado win & a Ot game from Arizona/Vanouver tonight

Hey even 9th place holds a 5% chance at Mathews in a Sens jersey next season. I'll take those odds.

People have really got to chill out about Hoffman. It's just his 2nd full year of NHL play, and after clearing waivers he's now put up back-to-back 25G seasons. Of course there are still things like consistency and defensive play that he has to work on... but that's not the end of the world, and it also doesn't mean that he's going to bail on the team the first chance he gets. I'd be surprised if they didn't put forward a long-term offer to Hoffman in the ballpark of a 5yr-$25M extension in the off-season.

And so goes the Senators season.....still in need of a 1C and top 6 LW.
- Rafterman

Kyle Turris + Clarke MacArthur.

Both a little less than those but realistically this team is in the playoffs if a) everyone's fully healthy b) if everyone's playing to their abilities / expectations.

Ottawa will finish bottom 8th - 14th place. I'm hoping closer to 8th. They have some holes to fill in this roster and a strong draft this summer is impeccable to them contending in a few years. I'm routing for a Colorado win & a Ot game from Arizona/Vanouver tonight

Hey even 9th place holds a 5% chance at Mathews in a Sens jersey next season. I'll take those odds.
- Erik6Karlsson5

agree

This year there's three lotteries - Mathews and the two finns.

I'd still like to see the Sens get a Nugent Hopkins or Drouin (high end skill). Hoffman is a guy you HAVE to believe in his attitude + defensive play