As fun as it is to ask “what if” about your favorite sports teams, it’s very important to remember that hindsight is always 20/20. It’s very easy to look back on a past scenario with genius intellect because we know things now that weren’t evident then. That being said, it doesn’t make pondering the past any less fascinating, especially for a team like the Buffalo Sabres that has a well-documented history of “almost, not quite.”
In the last two of these that I’ve done, we’ve talked about many of the obvious ones, such as “No Goal” in 1999 or the Draft Lottery in 2015. But what if we wanted to get specific, like really specific? Let’s dive to the very bottom and look at some of the hypotheticals in Sabres history that might not come to mind immediately.
What If: Campbell Hadn’t Smoked Umberger?
Buffalo’s 2005-06 season stands out in team history for many reasons. It was a magical, fairy tale of a ride that produced so many memorable moments, some even legendary. However, that may not have been the case had it not been for one particular play. In the opening round of the playoffs the Sabres faced a familiar foe in the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they had met in four of their previous five appearances. The Flyers were far bigger and more imposing and many expected them to make short work of the series.
But though the Sabres simply couldn’t match up physically, they used their speed and finesse to take it to their towering foe from the outset, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in Game 1 before the Flyers tied it late to force overtime. Halfway through the extra period, Buffalo received a monumental boost from an unlikely source. After the Sabres nearly ended the contest with a shot that rolled just wide, the Flyers attempted to break out of their own zone. Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell pinched off the left point and laid out Philadelphia winger RJ Umberger with a massive, clean check.
At 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, Campbell was not known for physicality and one of the last players one would have expected such a colossal hit from, especially since he was considerably smaller than the 6-foot-2, 214-pound Umberger, who had to be helped off the ice. The hit sent an electric charge through Buffalo’s then-HSBC Arena and the crowd went ballistic as the Flyers chased the undersized blueliner around in the aftermath. The…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…