Flyers, Knights snatch top seeds

Alex Tuch scored 4:44 into overtime, Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in Edmonton on Saturday to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Later, at Scotiabank Arena, the Philadelphia Flyers — with a pair of goals from unheralded Nicolas Aube-Kubel — beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 to take the top seed in the East.

The Lightning also lost top defenceman Victor Hedman in the first period with an apparent ankle injury. Hedman went down untouched as he spun around to skate backward at the Tampa Bay blue line with the Flyers’ Tyler Pitlick driving up the right wing. The 2017 Norris Trophy-winner got up slowly and broke his stick while heading down the tunnel to the locker room.

The Golden Knights will face Chicago in the first round of the playoffs. The second-seeded Avs take on Arizona.

“We came here to take care of every challenge ahead of us. We did a good job,” Marchessault said. “We wanted the first seed after the round robin and we got it done. So I think it’s pretty positive. We’re really happy where our game is at as a team.”

Tuch scored the winner on a shot over the shoulder of Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer. The Avs tied it with 1:02 left in regulation when J.T. Compher poked in the puck.

Marchessault scored in the second period and again early in the third when he was pulled down by Avalanche defenceman Ryan Graves on a breakaway. Awarded a penalty shot, Marchessault beat Grubauer to the glove side.

Robin Lehner finished with 32 saves, starting over MarcAndré Fleury.