Nathan Horton: Out with Broken Finger ... Brett McLean Moves Up ... Scores, REALLY UPDATED Standings, Zippy

Florida center Nathan Horton will be out an undisclosed amount of time after having surgery to repair the ring finger on his left hand, The Miami Herald's David J. Neal is reporting.

Horton told Neal today at Incredible Ice that his hand was stepped on right before David Booth scored his third goal against the Blues on Saturday. Horton had surgery following the game and has his hand in a splint. He says the trainers have not given him a timetable for a return.

Horton, 23, scored his 19th goal of the season on Saturday. Horton is third on the team in scoring with 38 points. He missed nine games earlier this season after taking a skate to his foot, the deep laceration costing him a few weeks on the IR.

''There's nothing you can do,'' Horton said Monday morning. ''It's a freak thing, just like my foot injury earlier in the year.''

Brett McLean taking Horton's spot centering David Booth and Richard Zednik.

-- Bryan McCabe is not skating today, assuming it's because of his broken nose suffered Saturday. Again: Dude was a mess.

-- I'm taking Monday off and visiting family in Ohio. If David J. has any more news from Coral Springs he will relay it and you can read about it right here.

-- Sunday's Scores (and how they affected the Panthers): Florida got no help yesterday during Scoreboard Watch. None. Pittsburgh won a game in which the Capitals picked up a point, the Rangers won late in the third against Boston, and Montreal bumrushed the Stars -- who have now lost six straight at home for the first time since they were called the Minnesota North Wild.

-- Today's Game (and who the Panthers would be rooting for if they weren't hanging out eating Primanti Brothers sandwiches with Ben Roethlisberger)

Rangers @ Hurricanes, 7 Versus: Good matchup, eh? This is a game the Panthers may be paying attention to, but truthfully, why bother. The Panthers lose in this one regardless of who wins. Florida is just rooting for someone to win in regulation. No three point game here please.

The Standings (presented by the Buffalo Wild Wings @ the University of Akron and courtesy of NHL.com)

DIV GP W L OT Pts GF GA Home Away L10 Streak 1 Boston Bruins NE 67 43 15 9 95 226 155 22-6-5 21-9-4 4-5-1 Lost 1 2 New Jersey Devils ATL 65 42 20 3 87 202 162 22-10-1 20-10-2 7-3-0 Lost 1 3 Washington Capitals SE 67 40 21 6 86 219 199 25-9-2 15-12-4 4-5-1 Lost 4 4 Philadelphia Flyers ATL 64 35 19 10 80 207 186 19-9-4 16-10-6 6-3-1 Won 1 5 Montréal Canadiens NE 66 35 24 7 77 198 197 20-6-4 15-18-3 5-4-1 Won 1 6 Florida Panthers SE 66 34 24 8 76 187 185 18-9-5 16-15-3 6-4-0 Won 1 7 New York Rangers ATL 66 34 24 8 76 167 180 20-10-4 14-14-4 4-4-2 Won 3 8 Pittsburgh Penguins ATL 67 35 26 6 76 206 201 17-12-2 18-14-4 8-1-1 Won 6 9 Carolina Hurricanes SE 67 35 27 5 75 189 192 18-13-1 17-14-4 7-3-0 Won 3 10 Buffalo Sabres NE 66 33 26 7 73 195 183 19-12-2 14-14-5 4-5-1 Lost 1 11 Toronto Maple Leafs NE 66 26 27 13 65 196 235 11-12-9 15-15-4 5-2-3 Lost 1 12 Ottawa Senators NE 64 25 29 10 60 165 187 15-12-6 10-17-4 4-4-2 Won 2 13 Atlanta Thrashers SE 66 25 35 6 56 198 227 13-18-2 12-17-4 6-3-1 Won 2 14 Tampa Bay Lightning SE 66 21 32 13 55 171 220 11-14-9 10-18-4 2-6-2 Lost 3 15 New York Islanders ATL 66 22 37 7 51 166 215 16-14-5 6-23-2 5-4-1 Won 2 LEGEND › DIV GP W L OT Pts GF GA Home Away L10 Streak 1 San Jose Sharks PAC 64 42 12 10 94 210 159 26-3-4 16-9-6 5-4-1 Lost 4 2 Detroit Red Wings CEN 66 43 15 8 94 244 197 24-5-3 19-10-5 6-3-1 Lost 1 3 Calgary Flames NW 66 39 21 6 84 215 198 22-8-4 17-13-2 6-3-1 Lost 2 4 Chicago Blackhawks CEN 64 36 19 9 81 212 167 17-6-6 19-13-3 5-4-1 Lost 2 5 Vancouver Canucks NW 64 34 22 8 76 193 178 18-11-4 16-11-4 8-2-0 Won 4 6 Columbus Blue Jackets CEN 66 33 27 6 72 183 186 20-10-2 13-17-4 5-4-1 Won 1 7 Edmonton Oilers NW 65 32 27 6 70 184 199 15-12-4 17-15-2 4-4-2 Won 1 8 Nashville Predators CEN 66 33 29 4 70 170 183 21-11-2 12-18-2 6-3-1 Lost 1 9 Dallas Stars PAC 66 31 27 8 70 191 202 17-13-4 14-14-4 3-6-1 Lost 1 10 Minnesota Wild NW 65 32 28 5 69 167 157 18-11-5 14-17-0 4-4-2 Won 1 11 Anaheim Ducks PAC 67 31 30 6 68 186 197 15-15-3 16-15-3 3-6-1 Lost 3 12 St Louis Blues CEN 65 29 28 8 66 180 194 16-12-5 13-16-3 6-3-1 Lost 1 13 Los Angeles Kings PAC 65 28 28 9 65 173 191 15-13-8 13-15-1 4-6-0 Won 2 14 Phoenix Coyotes PAC 66 28 33 5 61 164 202 17-13-2 11-20-3 3-7-0 Lost 2 15 Colorado Avalanche NW 66 29 36 1 59 178 208 17-15-0 12-21-1 4-6-0 Won 1

Comments

[Andy]

George

your standing are wrong

[Tony Palik]

The standings listed and hence the analysis are out of date. Montreal and NYR won yesterday so the Panthers are now sixth so now matter who wins we drop. The Rangers will be above us and Carolina in a tie.

See link : http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=CON&navid=NAV|STN|Conf

[jh]

wow...really p'oed now we didnt pick up guerin, and stood still while others improved..

[ratmanfu]

Tough break wrt Horton. The timing on this couldn't be worse, too.

Every point counts in this heated race to the playoffs. Hopefully, we'll see some guys step it up in Nate's absence.

[John B]

According to the simulations at Sports Club Stats, the only result that hurts the Panthers' overall playoff chances is an overtime game. So, here's hoping one team dominates.

[mekker23]

argh not good, does anyone know roughly what time he'll be back?? before playoffs?

[EJ]

For crying out loud, get McLean off Horton's line and keep him the 4th line. Call up Shawn Matthias or Mike Repik. This is no time to be fooling around here because every game counts!

[canecatfinmavcubray]

McLean? Give me a break. EJ is dead on. Call Matthias AND Repik up now and scratch McLean for the rest of the year! The timing of this is awful, and hopefully not the beginning of the end.

[Brian From CT]

Well, this is why I went nuts when JM didn't get any offensive help. I guess he thought no one was going to get hurt down the stretch. What a moron!

Olesz comes back next week WHO CARES!

Can't bring up Matthias, he is also hurt. Repik, na. Sprukts is also hurt.

[Laus723]

Yeah Brian, cause the team sure dropped like a rock when Nate was out earlier in the seas, oh wait, no that's when things got started.

Yeah, real moron, I mean, he only put this team together and sorted through nearly a decade's worth of other GMs mistakes.

Give credit where it's due, and calm down. This team's pushed through injuries before.

[arg]

Just FYI, but when two teams are playing like carolina vs rangers, you pick the team with the most amount of games played to win.

[Brian From CT]

take it easy laus. Don't get all uptight and what not.

[jimmy]

Brian how is Mike Duco playing up there? I would like to see him come down here to play a few games with the big club.

[Rope]

Saw this report- Florida Panthers' defenceman Bryan McCabe underwent surgery Monday to repair a broken orbital bone after taking a puck to the face Saturday. He is expected to miss at least one week.