CAROLINA HURRICANES (18-30-9-6, 51 pts.)
vs.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (36-23-4-1, 77 pts.)
Saturday, March 1, 2003, 7 p.m. at Air Canada Centre

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes visit Toronto on Saturday for the teams’ third of four meetings this season and Carolina’s second game of a three-game road swing. The Hurricanes began the road trip at Phoenix on Wednesday, falling 4-2 to the Coyotes and wrap up the trip Sunday at Washington. The Hurricanes will travel to Washington following Saturday’s game for Sunday evening’s match up against Washington and then return to Raleigh for practice at RBC Center on Monday.

PRACTICE TIMES

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.
Mar. 5	Wednesday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Mar. 6	Thursday	Mellon Arena	11:30 a.m.
Mar. 7	Friday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.

ON THE AIR
Television: Fox Sports Net
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
Saturday, Hurricanes captain Ron Francis will celebrate his 40th birthday as Carolina visits Toronto. The 22-year NHL veteran ranks second all-time and first among active players in assists, third all-time and second among active players in games played and fifth all-time and second among active players in total points. With his next goal he will pass Frank Mahovlich for sole possession of 21st on the all-time goals scored list. On Wednesday in Phoenix, Francis played his 1,100th game for the Carolina franchise.
On Saturday, Francis will play his seventh NHL game on his birthday. In six previous March 1 games during his career, he has four goals and five assists (9 points). Here is a summary of Francis’ career games on his birthday:

Year	Game	GM#	G	A	PTS	PIM
1983	Buffalo at Hartford	123	2	0	2	0
1985	Hartford at New Jersey	272	0	1	1	4
1987	New Jersey at Hartford	407	1	1	2	0
1988	Hartford at Winnipeg	482	0	1	1	2
1997	Pittsburgh at New Jersey	1146	0	0	0	0
2000	Carolina at Phoenix	1389	1	2	3	0

The Hurricanes begin their 16th back-to-back set of 2002-03 Saturday against Toronto before traveling to Washington to conclude the set on Sunday… Carolina is 11-15-3-1 in back-to-back games with a 7-7-1-0 record in the front half and a 4-8-2-1 record in the back half of back-to-back sets…The Hurricanes are 4-8-3-2 against the Southeast Division after scoring a 2-2 tie at home on Feb. 21 against Tampa Bay. Since the division was created, Carolina has a 44-23-23-3 record in 93 games against the Washington Capitals, Atlanta Thrashers, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning… Carolina rookies Tomas Kurka and Michael Zigomanis each scored goals in their respective NHL debuts on Wednesday making them the first duo to do so for the same team since Stanislav Chistov and Alexei Smirnov for Anaheim at St. Louis on Oct. 10, 2002.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 10-12-7-3
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-19-2-3
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 50-of-331 (15.1%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 262-of-320 (81.9%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Right wing Pavel Brendl, arthroscopic knee surgery, injured reserve, missed one game (Feb. 26)
Left wing Jaroslav Svoboda, shoulder, injured reserve, missed seven games (Feb. 14-26)
Right wing Jesse Boulerice, concussion, injured reserve, missed seven games (Feb. 14-26)
Right wing Jeff Heerema, wrist, injured reserve, missed nine games (Feb. 9-26)
Left wing Erik Cole, broken leg, injured reserve, missed 11 games (Feb. 5-26)
Center Rod Brind’Amour, hand surgery, injured reserve, missed 16 games (Jan. 22-Feb. 26)

CAROLINA / TORONTO NOTES
Tonight marks the third of four regular-season meetings between the Hurricanes and Toronto. The teams meet once more at RBC Center 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 two points for 1000 career NHL points and 12 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… The Maple Leafs had a record of 4-9-2-0 after the first 15 games of the season but since November 10 only Ottawa and Vancouver have a better points percentage than Toronto.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	64	24	24	48
10 Francis	64	19	24	43
17 Brind'Amour	48	14	23	37
26 Cole	53	14	13	27
20 Hlavac	60	10	16	26
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	28	3.10	7-18-2	.881
80 Weekes	41	2.49	11-19-7	.919
MAPLE LEAFS
	GP	G	A	TP
89 Mogilny	58	25	43	68
13 Sundin	58	30	26	56
11 Antropov	56	15	23	38
15 Kaberle	64	7	29	36
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
20 Belfour	50	2.26	30-17-3	.922
37 Kidd	13	3.27	5-6-1	.890