RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes will be without goaltender Cam Ward when they host the Washington Capitals on Thursday.
Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said Ward has a lower-body injury, but does not believe it will keep Ward out of the lineup long-term.
"I don't think it's that serious to be honest with you," Peters said. "It's a day-to-day situation. We're going to take a day off tomorrow, we gave him yesterday, so that's three in a row and we think that's the right thing to do."
Anton Khudobin, who was in goal for a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, will get the start. The Hurricanes recalled goaltender Drew MacIntyre from the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League to serve as the backup.
Ward stopped 32 shots in a 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday but was held out of practice Wednesday. Ward has started 14 of the past 17 games. He took the ice Thursday morning ahead of Carolina's morning skate.
"He tried it real quick," Peters said. "He's been down that road before and we didn't want to push it."
Lower-body injuries were part of the reason Ward played 30 games last season.
The Hurricanes also will be without defenseman Andrej Sekera, whose blocked shot against Predators forward James Neal in the final seconds helped preserve the win.
"He's real close but not 100 percent," Peters said. "Not a lot of grip strength, some different things there. So again I think he will benefit from today and tomorrow [off]. And hopefully we will have him for Sunday and Monday."
Washington coach Barry Trotz said he expects to make changes to his third and fourth lines Thursday but did not reveal what they might be. He did say that he would like to get forwards Michael Latta and Liam O'Brien into the lineup.
Here are the projected lineups:
CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson
Marcus Johansson - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Troy Brouwer
Brooks Laich - Eric Fehr - Joel Ward
Jason Chimera - Andre Burakovsky - Jay Beagle
Scratched: Michael Latta, Liam O'Brien
Injured: Aaron Volpatti (upper body), Mike Green (upper body), Dmitry Orlov (wrist), John Erskine (neck surgery)
HURRICANES
Jiri Tlusty - Eric Staal - Elias Lindholm
Nathan Gerbe - Riley Nash - Alexander Semin
Jeff Skinner - Victor Rask - Andrej Nestrasil
Zach Boychuk - Jay McClement - Patrick Dwyer
John-Michael Liles - Jay Harrison
Scratched: Brad Malone
Injured: Cam Ward (lower body), Andrej Sekera (upper body), Jordan Staal (broken leg), Brett Bellemore (lower body)
Status report: Green has missed four games with an upper-body injury. He took part in the morning skate but will not dress against Carolina. "The trainers are holding him back," Trotz said. "Today was just a feel-out day. Tomorrow he probably start pounding pucks."
Who's hot: Backstrom has assists in six straight games; he has nine points during the stretch. ... Carlson has two goals and six points in his past three games. ... Rask has four points in the past three games, including the game-winning goal against the Predators.