CAROLINA HURRICANES (16-21-6-4, 42 pts.)
vs.
ST. LOUIS BLUES (25-13-5-4, 59 pts.)
Monday, Jan. 20, 2003, 7 p.m. at RBC Center

GAME NIGHT

The defending Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes return to RBC Center to face St. Louis at 7 p.m. The Hurricanes have gone 6-3-1-2 against Western Conference teams this season earning 15 of a possible 24 points.

PRACTICE TIMES

Jan. 20	Monday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Jan. 21	Tuesday	RecZone	11 a.m.
Jan. 22	Wednesday	MCI Center	11:30 a.m.
Jan. 23	Thursday	RBC Center	11 a.m.
Jan. 24	Friday	RBC Center	10:30 a.m.
Jan. 25	Saturday	Office Depot Center	11:30 a.m.
Jan. 26	Sunday	RecZone	11:45 a.m.

ON THE AIR
Television: Fox-DT
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
Captain Ron Francis moved past Larry Murphy and into sole possession of third place on the NHL’s all-time games-played list (1,616) on Saturday at New Jersey. Franics passed Raymond Bourque for fourth place on the list on Jan. 12 against Colorado. Francis has 18 points (7g, 11a) in his last 25 games and ranks second among Hurricanes scorers with 15 goals and third on the team with 16 assists and 31 points.
Hurricanes winger Jeff O’Neill has six goals in the last nine games and was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team on Jan. 16. 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 18 goals and trails only Rod Brind'Amour (36) for the team lead with 35 points. He ranked sixth among all NHL players with six game-winning goals through games of Jan. 18. Second-year forward Erik Cole has 18 points (11g, 7a) in the last 28 games and was named to the Topps/NHL YoungStars game on Jan. 18. Rod Brind’Amour has eight points (2g, 6a) in the last nine games, including a four-game points and assists streak (Jan. 7-12: 1g, 4a) that was snapped against Pittsburgh on Jan. 15.

CAROLINA AT HOME: 8-9-5-3
CAROLINA ON THE ROAD: 8-12-1-1
CAROLINA ON THE POWER PLAY: 42-of-262 (16.0%)
CAROLINA SHORTHANDED: 213-of-253 (84.2%)

CAROLINA INJURY UPDATE
The Hurricanes have no injuries to report.

CAROLINA / ST. LOUIS NOTES
The Carolina Hurricanes and the St. Louis Blues meet tonight for the second of two games this season. St. Louis took the teams’ first meeting on Oct. 15 at Savvis Center 2-1 on Tom Koivisto’s overtime game-winner. The Blues won last year’s season series 1-0-0, defeating the Hurricanes 4-3 on Nov. 1 at the Savvis Center. Blues defenseman Chris Pronger had three assists in the game and forward Keith Tkachuk tallied a pair of goals for St. Louis. Jeff O’Neill was Carolina’s leading scorer with two goals. The Blues lead the all-time regular season series between the two teams 34-20-5, including a 19-9-3 mark in St. Louis and a 15-11-2 record on the road against the Hurricanes franchise.

BLUES NOTES
Thirteen of the Blues 25 wins this season have come against teams that made the playoffs last season. St. Louis is 13-7-3-3 against opponents who were in postseason play last year… St. Louis ranks third in the NHL on the power play, registering 51 goals in 243 attempts (21.2%) this season. In 22 games at home the Blues have scored 26 goals in 123 times with the man advantage (21.5%), ranking third in the NHL. On the road the the Blues have scored 25 power play goals in 120 attempts (20.8%), ranking fifth in the League. The Blues have posted a 18-7-4-1 when recording a power play goal.

SCORING LEADERS AND GOALTENDERS

HURRICANES
	GP	G	A	TP
17 Brind'Amour	47	13	23	36
92 O'Neill	47	18	17	35
10 Francis	47	15	16	31
26 Cole	47	13	11	24
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
1 Irbe	20	2.98	6-12-2	.891
80 Weekes	30	2.33	10-13-4	.922
BLUES
	GP	G	A	TP
39 Weight	47	11	35	46
38 Demitra	43	16	28	44
61 Stillman	44	17	24	41
Goalies	GP	GAA	W-L-T	SV%
35 Johnson	17	2.05	9-6-2	.921
40 Brathwaite	24	2.45	11-7-3	.897