Ward to start; Pitkanen still out

With just four preseason games, it appears the Canes' Cam Ward may end up playing three of them. 

Coach Paul Maurice said Ward would start Friday against Atlanta and could be in net again Saturday night in Nashville.

"Some of it's going to be the workload — how many shots Cam faced," Maurice said of the back-to-back. A similar decision will be made on the other regulars based on how much power-play or penalty-kill time they get against the Thrashers.

Maurice said defenseman Joni Pitkanen would miss the last two preseason games, meaning Pitkanen won't have any game time heading into the regular season. Pitkanen was expected to rejoin practice this week and get in some game action, but has been limited to skating on his own.

"We're hoping for a full practice next week," Maurice said. "We're not concerned about it because it's one of those things where he'll play when he's healed."

The Canes' lines in Thursday practice had Eric Staal centering Ray Whitney and Erik Cole, with Matt Cullen at center with Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen. The third line had Sergei Samsonov, Rod Brind'Amour and Chad LaRose, with Stephane Yelle centering Scott Walker and Tom Kostopoulos. 

Forwards Brandon Sutter, Zach Boychuk and Pat Dwyer were the only ones in gray jerseys. Tim Conboy was working with the defensemen.