THURSDAY EYE-OPENER

Tyler Seguin scored the only goal of a shootout to lift the Dallas Stars to a 4-3 win over Calgary. Ales Hemsky scored twice in regulation for Stars, who won for the seventh time in eight games.

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The Edmonton Oilers beat Colorado 4-3 but they made things a lot harder than they had to be. Derek Roy scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Edmonton recovered the victory after giving up a three-goal lead. The Avalanche have lost three straight and are 10 points out of a playoff spot with nine games left.

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The Toronto Raptors continue to struggle, but they didn’t need a win to clinch a playoff spot. Jimmy Butler led a Chicago comeback with 23 points as the Bulls handed the Raptors a 116-103 loss at Air Canada Centre. Toronto earned a spot in the post-season after Boston and Charlotte lost their respective games later in the night.

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Tony Parker had 21 points and six assists, and the San Antonio Spurs stopped Oklahoma City’s four-game winning streak with a runaway 130-91 victory over the Thunder. Boris Diaw scored 19 points and Tim Duncan had 16 for San Antonio, which has won 11 of 13. Kawhi Leonard finished with 14 points in the Spurs’ highest scoring game of the season.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers’ recent dominance carried over to a trouncing of one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Kyrie Irving scored 24 points and Kevin Love added 22 points and 10 rebounds as Cleveland downed Memphis 111-89 for its fourth straight victory.

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Looking to cement a spot in the Toronto rotation, Daniel Norris allowed one run in six impressive innings as the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Wednesday.

Norris gave up three hits and struck out seven without walking a batter. It was Norris’ second start against Baltimore. In his first, he allowed one hit in 1 2-3 innings.

The Orioles’ run scored in the third when Norris hit Nolan Reimould with a pitch, and Caleb Joseph doubled.

Kevin Pillar, who missed 10 days with an oblique strain caused by sneezing, returned to the lineup, and hit a two-run homer for Toronto.

Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen gave up two runs, one of them earned, in five innings. He allowed four hits, struck out one and didn’t walk a batter.

Delmon Young homered for Baltimore in the seventh.

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Third baseman Anthony Rendon may miss the Washington Nationals’ opener against the New York Mets on April 6th because of a sprained left knee. Rendon hasn’t played since March 9th. He hit .287 with 21 homers last year, when he led the National League with 111 runs and finished fifth in M-V-P voting.

(CP)