Erik Condra ended a 20-game drought with a pair of goals to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Tuesday night.
Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Lightning. Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Victor Hedman added two assists apiece.
Tampa Bay tied the Florida Panthers atop the Atlantic Division with 89 points. Both teams have nine games remaining, and the Lightning own the tiebreaker with more non-shootout victories (39-33).
Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm scored for the Red Wings, who were outshot 34-25.
Coupled with Philadelphia's shootout loss at Columbus, Detroit fell into a tie with the Flyers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the New York Islanders. The Red Wings own the tiebreaker with Philadelphia.
Palat restored Tampa Bay's three-goal edge 63 seconds into the third period, tapping home a rebound of Johnson's shot.
Condra put home his own rebound with 3:04 left to complete the scoring.
Tampa Bay got a favorable bounce 33 seconds into the second when Stamkos' centering pass went off the skate of Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson to make it 3-0. Detroit coach Jeff Blashill lifted goalie Jimmy Howard in favor of Petr Mrazek.
Abdelkader got the Red Wings on the board, putting in a rebound of a blocked shot at 8:08.
Helm sped down the ice and beat Ben Bishop with 4:35 left in the second to get Detroit within a goal, but the Red Wings committed three minor penalties in the final 3:20 of the period.
The Lightning converted a two-man advantage when Kucherov slammed Johnson's goal-mouth feed past Mrazek with 2:18 left.
Tampa Bay opened the scoring 1:47 into the game when Condra scored on a snap shot from the hash marks.
The Lightning stretched the lead to 2-0 midway through the opening period when Namestnikov put home a rebound after Howard made a save on J.T. Brown.
