Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov each had a goal and an assist Thursday as the visiting Carolina Hurricanes topped the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven second-round series.

Frederik Andersen made 18 saves and Jalen Chatfield scored the go-ahead goal for Carolina, which improved to 7-0 this postseason. The Hurricanes will go for a sweep when the teams reconvene in Philadelphia for Game 4 on Saturday.

After upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, Philadelphia has had its hands full with the Hurricanes. Dan Vladar made 26 saves and Trevor Zegras scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who went 0-for-5 with the man advantage while allowing two power-play goals as well as a shorthanded tally.

With the game tied 1-1 late in the second, Philadelphia began a power play with an offensive zone draw, but it was Carolina that scored 11 seconds later. Jordan Martinook made a diving play to spring a 2-on-1, and Staal fed Chatfield for a one-timer that zipped just under the crossbar.

The Flyers failed to score on that power play, even though they had a two-man advantage for more than a minute of it.

The Hurricanes tacked on a pair of third-period goals – Svechnikov’s one-timer on a 4-on-3 power play and Nikolaj Ehlers’ wrister on a breakaway.

The Flyers pressured Andersen early with a handful of great chances in the first period.

Travis Konecny snuck behind the Carolina defense, only to have his shot skim off the post. Several minutes later, Porter Martone hit the crossbar. Then the rookie winger set up Alex Bump on a great opportunity on a 2-on-0 in front of the net, but Andersen was up to the challenge.

Finally, a shot by Rasmus Ristolainen slipped through Andersen and was about to cross the goal line when Jaccob Slavin swept it away at the last moment.

In the midst of the Flyers’ pressure, the Hurricanes took a 1-0 lead. A shot by Svechnikov hit off the boards and caromed back in front of the crease, where Staal swept the puck off Vladar and into the net.

Carolina led 1-0 after one period, but Philadelphia tied it up 2:31 into the second. A loose puck found its way to Zegras in the right circle, and he elevated a shot past Andersen to forge a 1-1 tie.

Emotions ran high throughout the third period, where 36 of the game’s 58 penalty minutes were given out. That included a game misconduct on Konecny with 2:19 left and 26 penalty minutes in the final three minutes when the game had been effectively decided.

–Field Level Media

Shota Imanaga struck out 10 across six innings as the Chicago Cubs completed a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with an 8-3 victory on Thursday for their 15th straight home win.

Unlike the first three games of the series, the Cubs did not need to walk it off. Instead, they used a seven-run fourth inning to turn it into a rout and hand the Reds their seventh straight loss. Chicago has won nine in a row.

Michael Conforto went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs. He hit a double, and his second-inning solo home run off Reds starter Rhett Lowder (3-3) gave the Cubs the early lead. It was the veteran’s second homer of the series and season.

Lowder pitched into the fourth but was pulled after allowing back-to-back walks to Alex Bregman and Ian Happ to start the inning and throwing a ball in the dirt to Michael Busch. The right-hander went three-plus innings, allowing three runs on just one hit, but walked four.

Sal Stewart hit his 10th homer of the season and Blake Dunn lasered his first home of the year for the Reds.

Yankees 9, Rangers 2

Trent Grisham laced a bases-clearing double during a six-run sixth inning as host New York cruised past Texas but lost left fielder Jasson Dominguez to a sprained left shoulder.

Dominguez was injured crashing into the auxiliary scoreboard to catch a fly ball by Brandon Nimmo, the first batter of the game. Dominguez sustained a low-grade AC sprain and will be placed on the injured list. The team announced after the game that concussion tests were negative at the time on Dominguez, who is in concussion protocol.

Grisham had three hits and Ryan McMahon had a double and an RBI single as the Yankees totaled 14 hits and went 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Ezequiel Duran homered and drove in both for runs as the Rangers lost for the 11th time in 17 games.

Nationals 7, Twins 5

Keibert Ruiz had a home run and two doubles, drove in four runs and scored three times to lead Washington over visiting Minnesota in the rubber game of their three-game series.

Curtis Mead had two RBIs and Jacob Young scored twice for the Nationals. Ruiz hit the go-ahead solo homer to make it 6-5 leading off the seventh inning, and Mead delivered an RBI single later in the inning.

Ryan Jeffers had a home run, two doubles and three runs for the Twins. Brooks Lee had two hits and two RBIs for Minnesota.

Rockies 6, Mets 2

Jake McCarthy hit a grand slam in the eighth inning and drove in five runs, as Colorado defeated New York.

Antonio Senzatela (2-0) tossed two innings of scoreless relief for the victory for the Rockies, ending a six-game skid. Starter Jose Quintana allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. McCarthy added an RBI double.

Colorado rallied from down 2-0 to tie it with runs in the fourth and sixth innings, then won it against reliever Craig Kimbrel (0-2). Austin Slater had two hits for the Mets. Starter Christian Scott struck out six, scattered three hits and left with the lead after 4 2/3 innings.

Guardians 8, Royals 5

Bo Naylor hit a three-run home run and Cleveland held on for a win over host Kansas City to earn a split of the four-game series.

Kyle Manzardo drove in two for the Guardians, who saw Slade Cecconi (2-4) allow two runs in 5 1/3 innings, giving up six hits. Cade Smith delivered a perfect ninth to record his 10th save of the season.

Bobby Witt Jr. was 4-for-4 with a walk and a homer. Vinnie Pasquantino homered for the Royals. Seth Lugo (1-2) needed 102 pitches to last four innings, allowing four runs on seven hits.

Athletics 12, Phillies 1

Brent Rooker and Zack Gelof each homered and drove in three runs and J.T. Ginn tossed eight stellar innings as the visiting Athletics posted a victory over Philadelphia.

Ginn (1-1) allowed just one run on four hits, striking out eight for the A’s, who salvaged the series finale after dropping the first two games. Shea Langeliers and Jacob Wilson also went deep in the win.

Andrew Painter (1-4) surrendered eight runs on seven hits across 3 2/3 frames for the Phillies, whose four-game winning streak ended. Kyle Schwarber went 2-for-4 with a homer as Philadelphia has won eight of 10 games since the firing of manager Rob Thomson.

Rays 8, Red Sox 4

Chandler Simpson went 2-for-2 with three RBIs off the bench, leading visiting Tampa Bay to a win over Boston in the opener of their four-game series.

Simpson entered the game in the sixth inning and immediately knocked a go-ahead, two-run single. He then provided a key insurance run on an RBI triple in his next at-bat in the eighth. Tampa Bay pounded out 13 hits and Hunter Bigge (1-0) worked two no-hit innings in relief of fellow right-hander Griffin Jax en route to the Rays’ seventh straight win.

The Rays had their streak of allowing three runs or fewer snapped after 13 consecutive games when Jarren Duran doubled and scored on a Wilyer Abreu sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Marlins 4, Orioles 3

Joe Mack doubled with two outs in the ninth inning and scored the winning run on a walk-off throwing error as Miami claimed a victory against Baltimore, dodging a sweep of the three-game series.

Liam Hicks hit a two-run home run in the first inning for the Marlins. Calvin Faucher (3-2) threw a scoreless ninth inning as the Marlins ended a four-game skid.

Mayo and Dylan Beavers each provided two hits, but the Orioles had a two-game win streak. Andrew Kittredge (0-1) gave up the unearned run in the ninth.

Pirates 4, Diamondbacks 2

Brandon Lowe went 3-for-5 with a home run and scored twice to help Pittsburgh win the rubber match of a three-game set against Arizona in Phoenix.

Joey Bart also homered for the Pirates, who have won five of their past six games, and starter Mitch Keller (4-1) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen (1-3) gave up four runs on six hits in six innings. Corbin Carroll went deep for Arizona.

–Field Level Media

Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 22 points each, lifting the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 125-107 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and a 2-0 advantage in a Western Conference second-round playoff series.

The Thunder remain undefeated in this year’s playoffs as the best-of-seven series moves to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Saturday.

Oklahoma City won despite Gilgeous-Alexander being hampered by foul trouble for much of the night, limiting him to 28 minutes.

Early in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander was called for a flagrant-1 offensive foul while being guarded by Austin Reaves.

Gilgeous-Alexander headed to the bench with four fouls as the Lakers went up by five.

However, despite not having Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor, the Thunder went on a 25-7 run to move ahead by 13 late in the quarter.

The surge included Jaylin Williams’ four-point play that put Oklahoma City up 85-74 with less than three minutes left in the third. Holmgren got the play started by ripping the ball away from Reaves underneath the basket on the other end.

The Thunder scored 11 points off Los Angeles’ seven third-quarter turnovers and ended the night with 26 total points off Lakers’ 21 giveaways.

The Lakers cut the deficit to five early in the fourth quarter, but Holmgren scored five consecutive points to extend the gap back to double figures.

About four minutes into the fourth quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Lakers’ LeBron James went down on the same play after Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled by Reaves.

James, going for the block from the backside, tried to leap over Gilgeous-Alexander on the baseline but couldn’t avoid contact with the Thunder star.

Both remained down, with James grabbing his right wrist as he crashed to the floor while Gilgeous-Alexander writhed momentarily in pain.

Both Gilgeous-Alexander and James remained in the game.

Reaves, who shot 3 of 16 in Game 1, fared much better on Thursday, finishing with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

James added 23 points for the Lakers, who shot 50% from the floor.

Oklahoma City’s Ajay Mitchell contributed 20 points. Holmgren hit 7 of 11 attempts from the field and had nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Jared McCain added 18 points off the bench for the Thunder, whose reserves outscored the Lakers’ 48-20.

–Field Level Media