Former Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton has missed 40 games this season for the Columbus Blue Jackets (including their last four), so it’s not usually news when he’s out of the lineup. But if Horton doesn’t play against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, he’ll make NHL history.
It isn’t a typical regular-season game — it was rescheduled after Rich Peverley’s heart scare March 10. The incident happened a little over six minutes into the first period, so the Stars and Blue Jackets will play a full 60-minute contest Wednesday.
The Blue Jackets will keep the 1-0 lead they had in that game, but this is where it gets strange. Horton scored the goal for the Blue Jackets, so that means he could be credited with a goal in a game in which he did not play, an NHL first.
Sports Illustrated noted that the goal will be credited to Horton at 0:00 in the first period and will not count as a shot on goal. This follows suit with what the league did for the Nashville Predators’ Greg Johnson the first time a game was postponed in 2005 after the Detroit Red Wings’ Jiri Fischer went into cardiac arrest.
