TORONTO — Eric Staal won the gold, the most coveted prize, but his was just one of four Olympic medals won by Hurricanes.

Tim Gleason came back from Vancouver — ever so reluctantly -- with a silver medal, and Finland's Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen won bronze medals. No one came back empty handed.

"It was really fun," Ruutu said today of his Olympic experience. "They did a great job with everything. It was one of the best times of my life.

"Obviously you shoot for the gold. But it was not bad for Finland. It's not an every-day thing and you are proud just to be a part of the team."

All four Canes went to Vancouver with the most precious medal in sports in their sights: Olympic gold.

Tim Gleason and Eric Staal still have it in their sights. Gleason and Team USA must again beat Staal and Team Canada to win gold, and they will again have to do it in rollicking Canada Hockey Place.

"People ask me who I'm cheering for and I'm cheering for Staal and Gleason," Canes coach Paul Maurice said today. "You can't pick one man over the other because they're both such great guys. I almost feel bad because one is getting a silver." 

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- He had knee surgery Sept. 10, missing training camp, and has been able to practice only a few times. Joni Pitkanen missed five of the Canes' first six games, and had to leave the one game he played because of knee pain.

Yet, Pitkanen played more than 28 minutes the last game, against New Jersey. The defenseman may do the same tonight against the New York Islanders. How hard is that — all that ice time with little or no practice?

"Last game, the first period was pretty tough," Pitkanen said today after the morning skate at Nassau Coliseum. "The game is so quick. It's not even close to practice."

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen has returned to practice. Pitkanen has missed five of the Canes' first six games and most practices, but was back on the ice today at the RBC Center.

Pitkanen said persistent soreness in his right knee has prevented him from doing anything bu some skating on his own. "Frustrating," he said today.

BOSTON -- Joni Pitkanen went through the morning skate at TD Banknorth Garden but will be held out of tonight's game with the Bruins, Canes coach Paul Maurice said.

Maurice said Pitkanen, who had knee surgery Sept. 10, could be ready for Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the RBC Center.

Looking back at the 2-0 loss Friday to the Flyers in the opener, Maurice said: "We were just OK last night. There wasn't a lot of our game that we were excited about."

The Hurricanes showcase their new scoreboard with a look back at last year's magical playoff run, as fans file into RBC Center for tonight's 7 p.m. game. ...

Only one change in the lines from the last preseason game. As has been reported here earlier today, Jay Harrison has Joni Pitkanen's roster spot tonight. Pitkanen may will fly to Boston tomorrow, but may not play until Tuesday's home game against Tampa Bay.

So the lines are as follows: Ray Whitney, Eric Staal and Erik Cole; Tuomo Ruutu, Matt Cullen and Jussi Jokinen; Chad LaRose, Rod Brind'Amour and Sergei Samsonov; Scott Walker, Stephane Yelle and Tom Kostopoulos.

UPDATE: This was posted on the N&O site this morning after the skate but because of blog problems was not on CanesNow.

The Canes will be without defenseman Joni Pitkanen tonight in the season-opener against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Canes coach Paul Maurice said Pitkanen, who underwent arthroscopic knee
surgery Sept. 10, would be held out of the game and replaced by Jay Harrison. Pitkanen will travel with the team to Boston for Saturday's game against the Bruins, and a decision made tomorrow morning on whether he will play.

It's possible Pitkanen, who led the Canes in average ice time per game last season, won't play his first game until Tuesday, when the Canes host the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen was back at practice today, going through all the drills, getting in plenty of skating. Testing out that knee.

"It was nice to be back skating with the team," Pitkanen said. "It was pretty good. I tried to push as hard as I can. Now it's how I feel tonight and tomorrow in the morning.

"Now we go one day at a time. We'll see how it is tomorrow and go from there."

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen took the ice today at the RBC Center for the Canes' morning skate.

Pitkanen, who will not play tonight against Atlanta, was in a gold jersey and is not allowed any contact work. But he was skating and stickhandling.

Pitkanen underwent arthroscopic knee surgery before training camp began and has not skated with the team until today.

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.