Staal, Whitney, Ward among those missing practice

With several players sitting out of practice, the Canes couldn't get in systems work today at the RBC Center. "But that's OK because that's not for me where it's at," coach Paul Maurice said. "It's some sharpness with the puck and our compete (level) when we don't have it. Those are the two areas we can work on when we're out there." Eric Staal again missed practice. So did Ray Whitney, Matt Cullen, Sergei Samsonov and Joni Pitkanen. Goaltender Cam Ward was given the day off. "We have a number of players who are not at 100 percent," Maurice said. "With the way our team is playing we'd like our whole team out there working. But we have to have these players get better so we can squeeze them harder in games to play harder." Ward was at practice Sunday and Maurice said "he got all the shots he needed." "When a big part of your focus is scoring goals and putting pucks in the net, yo...