CAROLINA HURRICANES (16-16-5-3, 40 pts.)
at
ATLANTA THRASHERS (10-24-1-4, 25 pts.)
Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2003, 7:30 p.m. at Philips Arena

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes travel to Atlanta’s Philips Arena to face the Thrashers in the first game of their 10th back-to-back set and the third of four consecutive road games. The Hurricanes snapped a four-game skid with a 4-2 win at Boston’s FleetCenter on Saturday as they wrapped their ninth back-to-back set this season and improved to 8-10-0-1 away from RBC Center.
Hurricanes winger Jeff O’Neill has three goals in the last two games, including two power-play markers and the game-winner at Boston on Saturday. O’Neill leads the team with 15 goals and 32 points this season. He currently ranks tied for third among all NHL players with six game-winning goals this season.
Captain Ron Francis has 16 points (6g, 10a) in his last 18 games. Francis had a six-game point streak broken against the NY Islanders on Dec. 28. With his assist against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 22, Francis became the second player in NHL history to tally 1,200 career assists. Second-year forward Erik Cole has 17 points (10g, 7a) in the last 22 games.

PRACTICE TIMES

Jan. 7	Tuesday	Phillips Arena	11:30 a.m.
Jan. 8	Wednesday	Madison Square Garden	11:30 a.m.
Jan. 9	Thursday	RecZone	noon
Jan. 10	Friday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Jan. 11	Saturday	RecZone	11:45 a.m.
Jan. 12	Sunday	TBA	TBA
Jan. 13	Monday	RBC Center	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
The Hurricanes begin their 10th set of back-to-back games at Atlanta’s Philips Arena tonight. Carolina completed its ninth of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season by downing Boston 4-2 at FleetCenter on Saturday. Carolina is 9-9-0-0 in back-to-back games with a 5-4-0-0 record in the front half and a 4-5-0-0 record in the back half of back-to-back sets. The Hurricanes were 15-16-3 in back-to-back games in 2000-01, with a record of 8-6-3 in the first games and 7-10-0 in the second games. During the 1999-2000 season, Carolina was 14-18-3 in back-to-back games, with an 8-8-2 record in the first games and 6-10-1 record in the second games. During the 1998-99 season, the team played 17 sets of back-to-back games, posting a 7-7-3 record in the first games and a 6-6-5 mark in the second games.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 8-6-5-2
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-10-0-1
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 40-of-229 (17.5%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 185-of-217 (85.3%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
Defenseman Bret Hedican missed the game at Boston, Jan. 4, with concussion symptoms.
Defenseman David Tanabe missed the game at Boston, Jan. 4, with a shoulder injury.

CAROLINA / ATLANTA NOTES
Carolina and Atlanta meet tonight for the fourth of five matchups this season and the second of three games at Philips Arena. The fourth-year Thrashers won their first game against Carolina 5-3 at RBC Center on Dec. 27. The Hurricanes won the teams’ first regular-season matchup in Raleigh 5-3 on Oct. 11 as Rod Brind’Amour, Erik Cole, and Josef Vasicek each notched a goal and an assist. Carolina defeated the Thrashers 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 20 on Aaron Ward’s OT game-winner. The teams will wrap the season series on March 26 in Atlanta.

THRASHERS NOTES
Marc Savard scored his first goal with Atlanta on the power play in Friday night's 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh … Savard has notched eight points (one goal, seven assists), and has picked up at least one point in seven out of 16 games since being acquired by Atlanta from Calgary on Nov. 15 … He's taken at least one shot in 15 out of 16 games, and has 38 in that span.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
92 O'Neill	40	15	17	32
17 Brind'Amour	40	12	19	31
10 Francis	40	14	15	29
26 Cole	40	12	11	23
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	17	2.81	6-10-1	.896
80 Weekes	25	2.30	10-9-4	.923
THRASHERS
	GP	G	A	TP
15 Heatley	34	10	24	34
17 Kovalchuk	38	21	12	33
13 Kozlov	37	6	18	24
19 McEachern	39	10	13	23
27 Stefan	39	10	13	23
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
34 Dafoe	10	4.29	2-8-0	.856
31 Nurminen	22	3.09	7-11-1	.893
33 Hnilicka	13	4.11	1-9-0	.883