CAROLINA HURRICANES (22-36-10-6, 60 pts.)
at
MONTREAL CANADIENS (27-32-8-8, 70 pts.)
Saturday, March 22, 2003, 7 p.m. at Bell Centre

GAME NIGHT

The Carolina Hurricanes travel to Montreal for their third of four regular-season match ups with the Canadiens. The teams will meet for the final time on March 31 at the RBC Center. Montreal suffered a 6-3 loss against the New York Islanders on Thursday and stood eight points out of the final playoff spot prior to Friday’s games.

PRACTICE TIMES

Mar. 22	Saturday	Bell Centre	11:30 a.m.
Mar. 23	Sunday	RBC Center	TBA
Mar. 24	Monday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Mar. 25	Tuesday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Mar. 26	Wednesday	Phillips Arena	10:30 a.m.
Mar. 27	Thursday	RBC Center	noon
Mar. 28	Friday	RecZone	11 a.m.

ON THE AIR
Television: Fox Sports Net (NC & SC)
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 17 goals in the last 35 games and has earned points in 11 of the last 17 games (Feb. 14-March 18: 9g, 6a). O’Neill leads the team with 29 goals and 57 points. 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 12 points and four penalty minutes in his first 17 NHL games, including his first multiple-point game, March 4 vs. Boston (1g, 1a), and his first NHL game-winner, March 7 vs. Minnesota. Rookie defenseman Bruno St. Jacques notched his first NHL goal at Pittsburgh on March 6 and first NHL assist on March 10 against Columbus. St. Jacques added assists on the extra-attacker, tying goal and overtime goal on March 12 at Buffalo for his first NHL multiple-assist, multiple-point game. St. Jacques has points in four of the last five games (March 10-18: 1g, 4a).

CAROLINA AT HOME: 12-14-8-3
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 10-22-2-3
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 56-of-381 (14.7%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 296-of-360 (82.2%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Forward Brad DeFauw, elbow, day-to-day, missed one game (March 18)
Defenseman Aaron Ward, hip, day-to-day, missed two games (March 15-18)
Left wing Jan Hlavac, hand, day-to-day, missed nine games (March 2-18)
Right wing Pavel Brendl, arthroscopic knee surgery, injured reserve, missed 11 games (Feb. 26-March 18)
Left wing Jaroslav Svoboda, shoulder, injured reserve, missed 17 games (Feb. 14-March 18)
Right wing Jesse Boulerice, concussion, injured reserve, missed 17 games (Feb. 14-March 18)
Right wing Jeff Heerema, wrist, injured reserve, missed 19 games (Feb. 9-March 18)
Left wing Erik Cole, broken leg, injured reserve, missed 21 games (Feb. 5-March 18)
Center Rod Brind’Amour, hand surgery, injured reserve, missed 26 games (Jan. 22-March 18)

CAROLINA / MONTREAL NOTES
The Carolina Hurricanes and the Montreal Canadiens meet for the second of four matchups this season and the first of two games at Bell Center. The first matchup between the two ended in a 2-2 tie at RBC Center. The two teams met in the 2002 Eastern Conference Semifinals, with the Hurricanes taking the series four games to two. Bates Battaglia established a Hurricanes franchise record for most points in a playoff series with 10 points (4g, 6a) in the six-game series against the Canadiens.
Carolina and Montreal split their four regular season matchups last season 1-1-2. The two teams played to a pair of 1-1 ties in Raleigh on Jan. 17 and March 18. Carolina came back from a pair of two-goal deficits to beat Montreal at the Molson Centre 4-3 on March 2. Jeff O’Neill scored the game-winner with 2:05 left in the game. Montreal defeated Carolina 3-2 on March 2. Oleg Petrov led all scorers in the regular season series with four points (1g, 3a). Sami Kapanen (3g, 0a) led all goal scorers in the series. The Hurricanes hold a 46-82-19-0 all-time mark against Montreal including a 28-35-12-0 home record and 18-47-7-0 road record.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	74	29	28	57
10 Francis	74	21	32	53
17 Brind'Amour	48	14	23	37
19 Vrbata	70	15	19	34
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	30	3.17	7-20-2	.880
30 DesRochers	6	3.62	1-4-0	.887
80 Weekes	47	2.45	14-21-8	.919
CANADIENS
	GP	G	A	TP
11 Koivu	75	17	46	63
20 Zednik	73	28	17	45
94 Perreault	66	21	21	42
39 Bulis	75	15	21	36
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
36 Theodore	53	2.85	18-29-6	.909
30 Caron	5	1.99	2-3-0	.942