CAROLINA HURRICANES (18-28-7-6, 49 pts.)
at
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (32-21-4-1, 69 pts.)
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2003, 7:30 p.m. at Air Canada Centre

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes travel to Air Canada Centre to face Northeast Division foe Toronto. Tonight’s game marks the second of four meetings between the clubs this season and first of two in the next 12 days. The Maple Leafs downed the Hurricanes 3-2 in the teams’ first meeting, Jan. 29 at RBC Center. The Hurricanes return home following tonight’s game for tomorrow night’s match up against Boston.

PRACTICE TIMES

Feb. 18	Tuesday	Air Canada Centre	11:30 a.m.
Feb. 19	Wednesday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Feb. 20	Thursday	RBC Center	TBA
Feb. 21	Friday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Feb. 22	Saturday	RecZone	10:45 a.m.
Feb. 24	Monday	RBC Center	11 a.m.

ON THE AIR
Television: none
Radio: WKIX 102.3 FM (Goldsboro); WKXU 101.1 FM (Raleigh); WDTF 570-AM (Raleigh); WMFD 630-AM (Wilmington); WDLZ 98.3-FM (Murfreesboro); WSJS 600-AM (Winston-Salem); WRUP 97.9-FM (New Bern/Morehead City); WSTK 910-AM (Jacksonville); WNMX 106.1 (Charlotte); WCNC 1240-AM (Elizabeth City); WZBO 1260-AM (Edenton)
Internet: www.nhl.com

CAROLINA NOTES
Right wing Jeff O’Neill has 10 goals in the last 20 games. O’Neill leads the team with 22 goals and 45 points. He ranked tied for seventh among all NHL players with six game-winning goals through games of Feb. 16. Josef Vasicek has five goals and five assists in the last 11 games. Left wing Ryan Bayda made his NHL debut on Friday against Washington and earned his first NHL point, an assist on Sean Hill’s goal, Saturday at Philadelphia.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 10-11-5-3
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-17-2-3
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 47-of-310 (15.2%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 245-of-299 (81.9%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Left wing Jaroslav Svoboda, back, day-to-day, missed two games (Feb. 14-15).
Right wing Jesse Boulerice, concussion, day-to-day, missed two games (Feb. 14-15).
Right wing Jeff Heerema, wrist, injured reserve, missed four games (Feb. 9-15).
Left wing Erik Cole, broken leg, injured reserve, missed six games (Feb. 5-15).
Center Rod Brind’Amour, hand surgery, injured reserve, missed 11 games (Jan. 22-Feb. 15).

CAROLINA / TORONTO NOTES
Tonight marks the second of four regular-season meetings between the Hurricanes and Toronto. The teams meet again at Air Canada Centre on March 1 before wrapping the season series in Raleigh on March 25. Last spring, Carolina downed the Maple Leafs 4-2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series. In the 2001-02 regular season, the teams split the four-game series by winning one game and dropping one game on home ice. Sami Kapanen led the Hurricanes with six points (5g, 1a) in the regular-season series. Bates Battaglia (2g, 2a) and captain Ron Francis (0g, 4a) eached notched four points against the Leafs last season. Mats Sundin led all Toronto scorers in the four-game set with five points (3g, 2a). Carolina holds a 34-22-10-0 all-time record against the Maple Leafs including an 18-11-5-0 home mark and a 16-11-5-0 road record.

MAPLE LEAFS NOTES
Mats Sundin is on the verge of reaching two significant NHL Miletsones. Sundin needs just nine points for 1000 career NHL points and 18 games played for 1000 career NHL games. He would become only the fifth player to register his 1000th career NHL point in a Toronto uniform… Toronto had their 13 game home unbeaten streak snapped January 21 vs. Philadelphia (12-0-1-0). It is the longest home unbeaten streak in the NHL this season.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	59	22	23	45
10 Francis	59	19	20	39
17 Brind'Amour	48	14	23	37
26 Cole	53	14	13	27
20 Hlavac	55	9	15	24
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
30 DesRochers	4	3.77	0-3-0	.875
80 Weekes	3637font>	2.47	11-17-5	.919
MAPLE LEAFS
	GP	G	A	TP
89 Mogilny	52	22	35	57
13 Sundin	52	27	22	49
11 Antropov	50	14	21	35
15 Kaberle	58	7	27	34
16 Tucker	58	7	23	30
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
20 Belfour	45	2.09	27-15-3	.928
37 Kidd	12	3.29	4-6-1	.891