Observations from the Flyers’ 3-1 win over the Capitals

Count 16 seconds. One Mississippi, two Mississippi, etc.

Go ahead. We’ll wait.

That’s how long Kevin Hayes skated with the puck in a sequence that ended with the Flyers scoring their second goal in their 3-1 win against Washington. Sixteen seconds before feathering a pass to Travis Sanheim, who finished the play by neatly lifting a shot past Braden Holtby.

Here are some other observations from Thursday’s win.

What it means: The Flyers are 2-0 in the round-robin and have clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

What’s next: The Flyers play Tampa Bay in each team’s final round-robin game on Saturday. The winner gets the No. 1 seed.

Our three stars: Kevin Hayes, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny.

Roster roulette: James van Riemsdyk was scratched in favor of Connor Bunnaman. Joel Farabee replaced injured Michael Raffl. Farabee joined Derek Grant and Nic Aube-Kubel on the third line. Bunnaman (207) joined Nate Thompson (205) and Tyler Pitlick (200) to give the Flyers a 612-pound fourth line. There was no change to the defense.

The new guys: Rookies Bunnaman and Farabee made their postseason debuts. Bunnaman drew one penalty and committed one. Farabee was steady on the forecheck. (So was Aube-Kubel.)

More from Hollywood: Hayes had two other assists. He stole the puck off Radko Gudas, which led to the Flyers’ first score. He found Laughton with a backdoor beauty for their third.

Moose report: Brian Elliott started in net for the Flyers, his first start in 155 days. He stopped Jakob Vrana on a breakaway late in the second, and then again from the circle on a power-play in the third.

Power outage: The Caps did a steady waltz to the penalty box in the second period and the Flyers couldn’t take advantage. They were 0-for-6 in all Thursday, and are 0-for-9 in Toronto.

Trouble at the blue line: The Flyers often had difficulty getting into the zone on the power-play, trying too often to stickhandle through a wall of defenders. The Caps were sixth on the PK this season, so they get some credit, too. Wonder if Alain Vigneault will try Shayne Gostisbehere on Saturday to jumpstart the power-play? It’d be a good way to give veterans Matt Niskanen or Justin Braun the day off.

Caps absences: Washington played without injured top defenseman John Carlson and third-line center Lars Eller, who left the bubble on paternity leave.

He said it: ”It’s as if Kevin Hayes has had the puck on a string since the midway part of this game. ... This is All-Star Game material that we’re watching when the Flyers have scored goals here.” -- NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst Bill Clement.