DETROIT _ Anders Lee scored his 40th goal of the season to become the first Islander to reach that milestone since Jason Blake in 2006-07, Mathew Barzal had two assists to tie Bryan Trottier's franchise record for rookies with 63 and John Tavares, in what might have been his final play with the team, scored the winner at 3:16 of overtime in a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
Lee lifted a backhander over goalie Jared Coreau (36 saves) at 6:25 of the third period to bring the Islanders within 3-2. Barzal's second assist set up Ryan Pulock's power-play goal with 29.7 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Thomas Greiss stopped 36 shots for the Islanders.
The Islanders (35-37-10) finished in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division and out of the playoffs for the second straight season. The Red Wings (30-39-13) are also missing the playoffs for the second straight season after their string of 25 straight postseason appearances ended last year.
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 11:13 of the first period as Henrik Zetterberg connected from the right. Andrew Ladd tied the game at 1 at 3:51 of the second period with Cal Clutterbuck getting the primary assist for his first point in 26 games. But Justin Abdelkader's power-play goal, withstanding a video review to see if he kicked in the puck, put the Red Wings back ahead 2-1 at 11:58 of the second period.
Dylan Larkin swiped a puck past Greiss to make it 3-1 at 4:10 of the third period.
