Olen Zellweger and Matthew Seminoff had three goals each and combined for 10 points as the Kamloops Blazers routed Portland 10-4 on Thursday to complete their second four-game sweep of the WHL playoffs.

The Memorial Cup host Blazers will face the also-unbeaten Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Conference Final starting next weekend.

WHL playoff action tonight has the Saskatoon Blades hosting Red Deer looking for another win against the Rebels to stay alive. Shaunavon's Kalan Lind will miss game five after he was taken to hospital following a high hit early in Wednesday's game, but did offer support to his Rebels teammates on social media Thursday.

Elsewhere, the Moose Jaw Warriors visit the Winnipeg ICE with that series now a best-of-three affair.

The SJHL's Canterra Seeds Cup final resumes tonight with the Flin Flon Bombers hosting the Battlefords North Stars, who lead the best-of-seven series 2-0. Game four is also at the Whitney Forum on Saturday.

Leafs get much-needed win over Lightning

John Tavares scored his first career playoff hat trick to help the Toronto Maple Leafs rebound from a poor game one effort with a 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in game two on Thursday night. Mitch Marner added two goals and Morgan Reilly had four assists.

Meanwhile, Mark Stone scored two insurance goals in the third period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets to even up their series at a game apiece. Former Bronco Adam Lowry scored for the Jets in the loss.

In other NHL playoff action, Chris Kreider scored twice as the Rangers beat the Devils 5-1 to take a 2-0 series lead, and Devon Toews scored the winner as Colorado rallied to beat Seattle 3-2 to even up their series.

Tonight, the Edmonton Oilers visit the LA Kings with the series tied up at a game apiece, and Boston travels to Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers, who tied up that series with a win in game two on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Minnesota hosts Dallas with the series tied 1-1, and Carolina takes a 2-0 series lead to Long Island against the New York Islanders.

Raptors fire head coach Nick Nurse

The Toronto Raptors have fired head coach Nick Nurse after five seasons with the team.

Nurse took over for former coach Dwayne Casey after the 2017-18 season and led the Raptors to their first NBA championship in his rookie year. Toronto finished ninth in the Eastern Conference this season with a 41-41 record and lost their play-in game to the Chicago Bulls.

In NBA playoff action on Thursday, Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 102-97 win over the Brooklyn Nets and a 3-0 stranglehold in their first-round series. Elsewhere, Steph Curry scored 36 points as the defending champion Golden State Warriors beat Sacramento 114-97 to cut their series deficit to 2-1, and the Phoenix Suns edged the LA Clippers 129-124 to take a 2-1 lead in their series.

Tonight, Boston visits Atlanta looking to go up 3-0 on the Hawks, and Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets look to take a 3-0 lead of their own when they visit the Minnesota Timberwolves. Also, the Knicks entertain Cleveland with the series tied 1-1.

Jays continue road swing against Yankees

The Toronto Blue Jays will spend the weekend in the Bronx as they start a three-game set with the New York Yankees tonight. The Blue Jays dropped two of three against the Houston Astros this week.

Yusei Kikuchi will start for the Jays tonight against Domingo German.

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