DETROIT _ It had to end sometime, and the Red Wings' long-standing misery against the Tampa Bay Lightning finally has.
It went all the way to a shootout, but the Red Wings defeated Tampa 5-4 _ 2-1 in the shootout _ as the Wings ended a 16-game regular-season losing streak to the Lightning that dated to 2015.
Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri both scored in the shootout for the Wings.
Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi, who both had four points in the game, scored third-period goals, breaking a 2-2 tie.
But the Lightning came right back.
Tampa's Brayden Point scored his second goal of the game (25th of the season), slicing the Wings' lead to 4-3 at 5:55. Then with Tampa buzzing, Pat Maroon tied it 4-4 with his ninth goal, tapping in a loose puck at the side of the net, at 11:19 of the third period.
Detroit Red Wings center Robby Fabbri celebrates his first-period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday.
The 16-game run was the longest active win streak against another opponent in the NHL _ Boston now owns the longest active streak, also 16 consecutive victories, against Arizona.
The Wings had last defeated Tampa in the regular season on Nov. 3, 2015.
Fabbri and Larkin had earlier Wings goals in regulation.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves, while Tampa's Curtis McElhinney had 24.
Coach Jeff Blashill talked earlier in the week about how the Wings have been able to continually have a single-minded approach despite long being out of the playoff chase.
It showed Sunday, with the Wings matching the intensity of the playoff-bound Lightning.
"The one thing that we've had is we've had a tough year all year," Blashill said. "It's not like all of a sudden we were out and we have this new challenge we have to face. The couple of years we've been eliminated haven't been as early as this year, so you kind of reset.
"We've had a number of those conversations. What we've been able to do here, is we've been able to have a 'next game' and 'next shift' mentality _ not worried about the previous 10 games, not worried about the previous 50 games.
"Those games are over and besides learning from them, they don't matter. All that matters is the game tonight."
Blashill insisted the Red Wings have plenty to play for in these waning days of the NHL schedule.
"You're excited to come to the rink and coach in the NHL, you're excited to come to the rink and play in the NHL," Blashill said. "Is there frustration that sets in? Absolutely. But frustration is a waste of time. You cannot just let games in the NHL click off, because you're never going to get them back."
Larkin tied Sunday's game 2-2 with only 15 seconds remaining in the second period, a huge momentum goal for the Wings' and a crusher for Tampa at the end of what had been a successful period.
Mantha carried the puck into the zone and centered a pass to Larkin driving to the net down the middle of the ice.
Tampa defenseman Ryan McDonagh appeared to deflect the puck, attempting to steer it away, straight to a hard-charging Larkin, who batted the puck past Curtis McElhinney.
The goal regained some momentum for the Wings, who had watched Tampa erase a 1-0 lead with two second period goals by Point (power play) and Carter Verhaeghe.
Point tied it 1-1 at 10:17 of the second period.
Lightning forward Tyler Johnson, while falling to the ice, backhanded a pass through the slot to Point, who was wide open and slammed his 24th goal into a yawning net.
The Lightning came right back just under five minutes later, with Verhaeghe scoring an unexpected goal.
Verhaeghe got the puck near the boards and lifted an innocent-looking shot toward Bernier, that Luke Glendening appeared to deflect and redirect past Bernier for Verhaeghe's ninth goal.
The Wings opened the scoring on Fabbri's 15th goal.
Fabbri got on the ice for a change and drifted toward the blue line. Bertuzzi gathered a loose puck and sprung Fabbri for a breakaway, Fabbri depositing the puck past McElhinney at 10:11 of the first period.
