Canes center Eric Staal will miss some games because of an upper-body injury suffered Sunday against the San Jose Sharks, general manager Jim Rutherford said today.

Staal has played in 349 consecutive regular-season games, but that streak will end, Rutherford said. He has missed just one game in his career, late in his rookie season.

Staal left after the second period of the 5-1 loss to San Jose as the Canes dropped their ninth straight game to fall to 2-8-3.

Staal's injury comes just as forward Erik Cole returns from a leg fracture after missing 10 games. Rutherford said defenseman Tim Gleason, who has been sidelined with a lower-body injury, should return Wednesday for the Florida Panthers game.

"When things go wrong, they go wrong," Rutherford said. "All teams have to deal with injuries. We have enough players to step up but we'll have to do it with confidence at an all-time low."