The Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Jarome Iginla all moved up to first place on the last day of the NHL regular season.
With help from the Bruins, the Flyers captured the Atlantic Division when the point they earned on Sunday in a 3-3 tie with the New York Islanders pushed them one ahead of New Jersey.
That became possible because the Bruins scored twice in the first three minutes at New Jersey and coasted to a 3-1 victory. At the same time, Boston vaulted over Ottawa and Toronto and won the Northeast Division.
Iginla already had his playoff spot sewn up, Calgary's first in eight seasons, when he took the ice at Anaheim. He had his sights set on Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk and Columbus' Rick Nash, who shared the NHL goal lead with 41.
The Flames captain made it a three-way tie for the Maurice Richard Trophy when he netted a short-handed tally. Nash and Kovalchuk both scored in their finales.
"It's something I'm very honored to accomplish," said Iginla, who won a share of the goal title for the second time in three years. "The guys have been very generous the past couple games to try and get me the puck so I could get my chances."
Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was the statistical champion among goalies, setting the modern-day record with a 1.69 goals against average in 38 games, and a .933 save percentage.
"It's how we play, it's not just my record," said Kiprusoff, who didn't play Sunday in Calgary's 2-1 loss.
The Devils looked as if they took Sunday off, too, losing their chance at the No. 3 seed and home-ice advantage in the first round. The Stanley Cup champions instead slipped to sixth and into a playoff matchup with the Flyers.
"It is a big deal," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "It was in our hands."
New Jersey has history on its side, having beaten Philadelphia in two previous playoff series -- both in the Eastern Conference finals. The Devils rallied from a 3-1 deficit in 2000 to advance to the finals.
"This is a team that has been our nemesis for a long time," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It's our turn to take a whack at them."
The Bruins locked up the No. 2 seed in the East and will face Original Six foe Montreal in the opening round of the playoffs. The Canadiens have eliminated Boston 22 times in 29 previous series, including two years ago -- the last time the Bruins won the Northeast.
"I think our confidence going in is as good as it has ever been since I've been here," forward Mike Knuble said of the Bruins, 3-0-1-2 against Montreal this season.
That best-of-seven series begins Wednesday. The New Jersey-Philadelphia series, as well as the other Eastern Conference matchups -- No. 1 Tampa Bay against the No. 8 New York Islanders, and the 4-5 pairing of Toronto and Ottawa, start Thursday night.
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