CAROLINA HURRICANES (18-30-9-6, 51 pts.)
vs.
PHOENIX COYOTES (23-26-8-4, 58 pts.)
Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003, 9 p.m. at America West Arena

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes visit Phoenix for the teams’ second meeting this season and Carolina’s first game of a three-game road swing. The Hurricanes wrapped up a three-game homestand on Sunday that saw the team score ties against Boston and Tampa Bay before falling to Anaheim. The Hurricanes will remain in Phoenix until Friday morning when it will depart for Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday in the first game of a back-to-back set that concludes Sunday in Washington.

PRACTICE TIMES

Feb. 26	Wednesday	America West Arena	11:30 a.m.
Feb. 27	Thursday	Alltel Ice Den	9:15 a.m.
Feb. 28	Friday	Lakeshore Arena	TBA
Mar. 1	Saturday	Air Canada Centre	11:30 a.m.
Mar. 2	Sunday	MCI Center	11:30 a.m.
Mar. 3	Monday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Mar. 4	Tuesday	RBC Center	10:30 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 12 goals in the last 24 games and has earned points in five of the last six games (Feb. 14-23: 4g, 2a). His four-game goals streak (Jan. 3-8: 5g, 0a) was the longest this season by any Carolina player. O’Neill leads the team with 24 goals and 48 points. He ranked tied for eighth among all NHL players with six game-winning goals through games of Feb. 24. Josef Vasicek has six goals and five assists in the last 15 games. Left wing Ryan Bayda made his NHL debut on Feb. 14 against Washington, earned his first NHL point, an assist on Sean Hill’s goal Feb. 15 at Philadelphia and scored his first NHL goal on Feb. 18 at Toronto. Bayda has totaled three points and four penalty minutes in his first six NHL games.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 10-12-7-3
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-18-2-3
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 49-of-325 (15.1%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 259-of-316 (82.0%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Right wing Pavel Brendl, arthroscopic knee surgery, injured reserve
Left wing Jaroslav Svoboda, shoulder, injured reserve, missed six games (Feb. 14-23)
Right wing Jesse Boulerice, concussion, injured reserve, missed six games (Feb. 14-23)
Right wing Jeff Heerema, wrist, injured reserve, missed eight games (Feb. 9-23)
Left wing Erik Cole, broken leg, injured reserve, missed 10 games (Feb. 5-23)
Center Rod Brind’Amour, hand surgery, injured reserve, missed 15 games (Jan. 22-Feb. 23)

CAROLINA / PHOENIX NOTES
The Carolina Hurricanes and the Phoenix Coyotes meet tonight for the second of two games this season. The Hurricanes took the teams' first meeting, 3-2 on Nov. 12 at RBC Center. Carolina won last year’s season series with Phoenix 1-0-0, defeating the Coyotes 1-0 in overtime in their only meeting of 2001-02. Josef Vasicek scored the game-winner 54 seconds into the overtime period for the win, assisted by Ron Francis and Jeff O’Neill. The Hurricanes are 29-22-8-0 all-time against the Coyotes franchise, with a 14-9-6-0 record at home and a 15-13-2-0 record on the road.

COYOTES NOTES
Since the line of Mike Johnson, Daymond Langkow and Ladislav Nagy was reunited on Feb. 14 at MIN, the three linemates -- Johnson (3-4-7), Langkow (3-3-6) and Nagy (2-5-7) -- have combined for 20 points in the last 6 games. The Coyotes are 4-1-1-0 in the games since Johnson, Langkow and Nagy have been reunited… In the 23 games played so far in 2003, four different Coyotes goaltenders (Sean Burke, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Zac Bierk and Brian Boucher) have a combined .936 SV% and 1.95 GAA compared to an .897 SV% and 2.96 GAA in the 38 games of this current season played in 2002.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	63	24	24	48
10 Francis	63	19	24	43
17 Brind'Amour	48	14	23	37
26 Cole	53	14	13	27
20 Hlavac	59	10	16	26
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	27	3.06	7-17-2	.884
80 Weekes	41	2.49	11-19-7	.919
COYOTES
	GP	G	A	TP
12 Johnson	61	18	33	51
8 Briere	61	15	28	43
17 Nagy	59	14	26	40
11 Langkow	61	15	24	39
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Burke	10	2.27	5-4-0	.927
33 Boucher	37	2.81	14-15-7	.901