The Flin Flon Bombers held off a late comeback by the Melfort Mustangs with a 4-3 overtime win on Thursday night to stay alive in the SJHL's Canterra Seeds Cup final. The Mustangs lead the best-of-seven series 3-1.

The Bombers jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Justin Lies, Jacob Vockler and Anthony Piccininno, but the Mustangs stormed back with three unanswered goals from Aidyn Hutchinson and two from Ryan Duguay, including the tying goal with 1:01 left in regulation.

Kylynn Olafson scored with 4:55 left in OT to force a fifth game on Saturday night at the historic Whitney Forum in Flin Flon, Manitoba, where the Mustangs won the first two games of the series by a combined score of 13-3.

Game six, if necessary, will be back in Melfort on Tuesday.

Panthers, Hurricanes take 3-0 strangleholds in their NHL playoff series

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice as the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in their NHL playoff series. Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz also scored for the Panthers, who can complete the sweep with a win on Saturday in Tampa. 

Meanwhile, Carolina held off a late rally by the New York Islanders to take a 3-2 victory and a 3-0 lead in their series. Brent Burns, Dmitry Orlov and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes, who can sweep away the Islanders for a second straight year with a win on Saturday at Long Island.

Tonight, the New York Rangers look to take a 3-0 lead on the Capitals in Washington, D.C., while Vancouver visits Nashville, Winnipeg travels to Colorado, and Edmonton visits the LA Kings with those series tied at a game apiece.

Jays lose to Royals, rain to wrap up road swing

The Kansas City Royals handed the Toronto Blue Jays a third-straight loss with a 2-1 victory on Thursday in a game called after five innings and a three-and-a-half-hour rain delay. Salvador Perez drove in both of the Royals' runs with a two-run homer in the first inning.

The Jays return home to face Shohei Ohtani and the LA Dodgers tonight. The Japanese superstar is making his first visit to Toronto since opting to sign with the Dodgers instead of the Jays as a free agent in the off-season. Chris Bassitt will start for the Blue Jays in tonight's opener.

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