Top Plays of 2014: Mike Hoffman
The third post in Silver Seven's week-long look at the top Ottawa Senators plays of 2014.
Mike Hoffman has had quite the season so far. Despite the Senators' struggles, Hoffman has proven both management and fans why he deserves to be on the team. In one of the early games this season, Hoffman had what might be known as his breakout game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
With the game tied 2-2, Hoffman broke into Columbus' end with a burst of speed. Tangled up by two Blue Jackets, he maintained possession and roofed a backhand shot past Sergei Bobrovsky. This would end up being the game-winning goal. It also gave the Sens their fourth win in just five games to start the season.
You can see it at about 1:48 of the highlight video:
If you look at all the highlights from this game, it's almost hard to determine Hoffman's best play. After getting a partial breakaway, he was awarded a penalty shot, which didn't go as planned, but made for a very interesting start. Not long after, he bounced the puck off the boards to David Legwand, who scored the first goal of the game. This was a big game for Hoffman, and kicked off what's been a very successful season for him so far.