Ward to be back in net for Canadiens

Cam Ward was at Canes' practice today, faced a lot of shots and will be in net tomorrow night against the Montreal Canadiens.

That infection on his forehead? Not a problem, he said today.

"It seems to be better," he said. "It's still not great but I was able to deal with it in practice and it didn't bother me at all, so I don't see it being an issue for tomorrow.

"I felt good in practice, felt sharp. Didn't miss a beat."

Ward, who had made 10 straight starts, missed Monday's game at Tampa Bay when the infection caused swelling, almost closing his left eye. The cause?

"I have no idea what happened," he said. "Obviously with our game and the sweat bands and all that stuff, it just caught an infection. It just happens to be in the middle of my forehead.

"There's a lot of question marks, what it was, how to deal with it. In Tampa Bay it was starting to swell my left eye. Obviously with that you want to be cautious."

Ward was dressed and available for backup duties Monday. Justin Peters started for the Canes in the 5-1 loss to the Lightning.

"I don't want to build this thing out of proportion," he said, smiling. "It's just a little thing on my forehead. We don't need to be talking about it around the world.

"I wasn't out of (Monday's) game. I dressed. I could easily have been in the game."