Logan Stankoven’s power-play goal midway through the third period broke a tie for Carolina, and the Hurricanes never trailed in defeating host Ottawa 4-2 on Saturday afternoon to eliminate the Senators from the playoffs.

The Hurricanes completed a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven, first-round Eastern Conference series.

Sebastian Aho scored two empty-net goals, and Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist for Carolina. Seth Jarvis had two assists and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.

For the Senators, Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Cozens scored. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots.

Stankoven’s power-play goal 9:10 into the third period gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead. He put the carom off the back boards into the open side of the net for his fourth goal of the series.

Aho’s first empty-netter came with 2:22 left. Cozens made it 3-2 with Ullmark pulled and 1:49 remaining. Aho got his second empty-netter with 1:15 left.

Batherson’s power-play goal had tied it 1-1 with 2:52 left in the second period. He redirected Tim Stutzle’s shot for Batherson’s third goal of the series. That came 2:35 after Hall had given Carolina a 1-0 lead on a shot from the inside edge of the left circle off the rush.

The second period featured several scrums. The first came 4:35 into the middle period after a clean check by Ottawa defenseman Tyler Kleven along the boards left Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin dazed and on the ice. He was woozy as he was helped off the ice.

Kleven was not penalized for the hit.

Ottawa was without defenseman Jake Sanderson due to a concussion suffered in Game 3 when he was hit in the head by Hall, who received a minor penalty on the play. Sanderson’s usual partner on the top defensive duo, Artem Zub, has been out since leaving Game 1 with an undisclosed injury.

The Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers did not play because of a lower-body injury.

–Field Level Media

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a playoff career-high 42 points to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 121-109 road win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

The reigning Most Valuable Player finished 15 of 18 from the floor with eight assists to give the Thunder a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Oklahoma City has won 11 consecutive first-round games.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s previous playoff high was 40 points in Game 4 of last season’s Western Conference Finals against Minnesota.

Playing without Jalen Williams, who suffered a hamstring strain in Wednesday’s Game 2 victory, the Thunder leaned even more heavily on Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gilgeous-Alexander hit his first 11 shots, not missing until less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Despite being without Williams, which moved Ajay Mitchell into the starting lineup, and Isaiah Joe, who was out for personal reasons, the Thunder reserves still dominated their counterparts. Oklahoma City’s bench outscored Phoenix’s 36-12.

The Suns were within nine early in the fourth quarter when Gilgeous-Alexander checked back in.

Moments later, Cason Wallace stepped into a passing lane, intercepting Devin Booker’s pass and fed to Gilgeous-Alexander for a layup on the other end, sending the Oklahoma City bench into celebration while Phoenix called a timeout with the Thunder up 13.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished 14 of 15 from inside the arc and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line.

Mitchell scored 15 points while Alex Caruso scored 13 off the bench.

Dillon Brooks scored nine consecutive Phoenix points to help his team pull within 10 with three minutes remaining.

The Thunder took a nine-point lead into halftime with a 12-2 run to close the second quarter.

Brooks led the Suns with 33 points while Jalen Green added 26 points. Booker scored just 16 points.

Grayson Allen, who had missed the last five games with a hamstring injury, made his first appearance of the postseason, playing 17 minutes and scoring seven points on 2-of-8 shooting.

The Suns were without Jordan Goodwin, who suffered a calf injury in Game 1, and Mark Williams (foot).

The Thunder have a chance to close out the series Monday in Phoenix.

–Field Level Media

The team of English brothers Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick began to break away from the pack by shooting 15-under 57 during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Saturday at Avondale, La.

The Fitzpatrick were sparked by Matt’s eagle on the par-5 seventh hole and maintained the momentum during the four-ball format to carry a four-stroke lead into the final round at TPC Louisiana. This is the PGA Tour’s only team event.

The Fitzpatrick team is at 30 under. Davis Thompson/Austin Ackroat (61) and second-round leaders Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (62) are next at 26 under. The team of Doug Ghim/Jeffrey Kang (61) is at 25 under.

The Fitzpatrick brothers could be headed toward special territory given that last year’s winning score was 28 under from the team of Ben Griffin/Andrew Novak.

The Fitzpatricks posted birdies on eight of the nine holes on the backside. They were without a bogey and had four pars.

They each provided the best score seven times.

Matt Fitzpatrick has been on a roll recently, including winning last week’s RBC Heritage.

Seven teams were in the lead or one shot back by mid-afternoon Saturday.

Then there was the case of Davis Chatfield and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart. They were 9 under through 11 holes after Dumont de Chassart ‘s eagle on No. 2, which was the pairing’s 11th hole of the day. But they played the rest of the way at 1 over without another birdie.

Until some of the final groups came in, the day’s best score of 61 belonged to Canada’s A.J. Ewart and South Africa’s Casey Jarvis. That moved them to 22 under and in a tie for 10th place.

–Field Level Media