COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward remained in an Ohio hospital after his leg
was cut by a skate, and general manager Jim Rutherford says he could
miss up to four weeks.
Ward was expected to remain in Columbus, Ohio, through Sunday and
return to Raleigh on Monday for further evaluation by the team's head
orthopedic doctor.
Ward left at the 7:35 mark of the first period
after a 3-2 loss to the Blue Jackets Saturday night after Columbus forward Rick Nash swooped in from the
right across the crease while being shadowed by a defenseman.
Although
there appeared to be very little contact with Ward. Still, Ward went
down on all fours for a minute before he was slowly helped off the ice
by two trainers, blood drops trailing him to the dressing room.
Ward was on all fours for a couple of minutes on the ice before he
was attended to by the trainers. As he was being helped off, drops of
blood trailed him all the way to the dressing room.
"I didn't see what happened," Leighton said. "All I saw was him on the ground."
It
wasn't the first time that Ward has been cut during a game. The skate
of former New York Rangers forward Brad Isbister sliced Ward's knee
during a game in March 2007. Ward said at the time that he didn't feel
that injury, but the cut was deep enough for him to see the muscle.
Ward called it the worst injury he sustained while playing hockey.
"It's
a scary thing to have happen," Columbus goalie Steve Mason said. "When
you see something like that happen, especially a guy like him -- he's a
really nice guy off the ice -- you hope everything is OK and it's not
too serious.
"With the amount of blood that was coming from him, it's a pretty scary situation." Carolin said.
The Hurricanes, who lost their sixth in a row overall, have not won
since a 7-2 victory over Florida on Oct. 9. Since then, they have gone
0-9-3, eclipsing an 11-game winless streak in 2003. They are also
winless in their last nine road games (0-7-2) and remain the only NHL
team without a victory away from home.
