’Canes in full control of series vs. Islanders

The Hurricanes didn’t think they played their best in Game 3 against the Islanders. They did enough to move a win away from advancing to the second round.

Defensemen Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov got the Hurricanes off to a fast start and they held on to beat the Islanders 3-2 on Thursday night for a 3-0 series lead.

The Hurricanes won for eighth time in nine games at UBS Arena, which opened for the 2021-22 season.

“We didn’t really play our way tonight, it wasn’t there,” said Andrei Svechnikov, who had two assists in Game 3. “But we take the win and run away.”

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, getting the start after Semyon Varlamov went in the first two games, was pulled in the second period after giving up three goals on 14 shots. Varlamov came on and stopped all eight shots he faced.

“I thought it was a hardfought game, there were not many chances on both sides,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “We had a good push in the third. We had our chances and the puck wasn’t bouncing our way.”

Golf: Jinichiro Kozuma birdied his first three holes in a bogey-free round of 9-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LIV Series golf tournament in Australia.

Soccer: Leicester secured automatic promotion back into the English Premier League on Friday after Leeds lost to Queens Park Rangers. Leicester’s return was sealed when secondplaced Leeds — four points behind Leicester — was thumped at QPR 4-0.

Tennis: Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz has won his opening match at the Madrid Open in his first match in nearly a month. The third-ranked Alcaraz brushed aside Alexander Shevchenko 6-2, 6-1 on the outdoor clay inside the Caja Magica on Friday.