Flyers win first seed in East; Lightning lose game and Hedman to injury

Talk about getting hot at the right time(s). After slipping into the East’s top four, the Flyers surged all the way to the first seed in the conference, pushing the Lightning to the second spot with Philly’s 4-1 win. This completed a lousy day for the Lightning, who also saw key defenseman Victor Hedman leave the game in frustration with an injury.

With this result, the top-seed Flyers will face the Canadiens in a battle of teams who took advantage of this odd NHL Return to Play format. Meanwhile, the Lightning will face the winner of Game 5 between the Blue Jackets and Maple Leafs.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB] Flyers win first seed in East; Lightning more worried about Hedman than second spot

Here’s footage of what looked like an ankle (or at least a “lower-body”) injury for Hedman. You can see Hedman’s furious anger in leaving with whatever injury, too:

Seems ominous.

As you may remember, Hedman didn’t seem 100-percent when his Lightning got swept in the First Round by the Blue Jackets during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. With Steven Stamkos missing time (including this round-robin game against the Flyers), the Lightning face some health uncertainty heading into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Again, for the Flyers, it was another promising game. They’ve carried over a hot finish to the 2019-20 regular season straight through the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

Updated NHL Round-robin standings; Some matchups now set for 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs

EASTTop seed: Flyers (3-0-0, 6 points) Philadelphia will face Canadiens in First RoundSecond seed: Lightning (2-1-0, 4 points) Tampa Bay will face winner of Game 5 CBJ – TORCapitals (0-1-1, 1 point)Bruins (0-2-0, 0 points)

WESTTop Seed: Golden Knights (3-0-0, 6 points); Vegas faces Blackhawks in First RoundSecond Seed: Avalanche (2-0-1, 5 points); Colorado faces Coyotes in First RoundBlues (0-2-0, 0 points)Stars (0-2-0, 0 points)

SUNDAY‘S NHL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Round-robin: Bruins vs. Capitals, 12 p.m. ET – NBCSNRound-robin: Stars vs. Blues, 3 p.m. ET – NBCGame 5: Blue Jackets vs. Maple Leafs, 8 p.m. ET – NBCSN

MORE:• 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Qualifiers schedule

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.