DETROIT -- Both the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings find themselves skating in uncharted areas as the NHL regular season winds down, and neither is excited by their current course.

The Wings were winners Sunday as the two teams met at Joe Louis Arena, Andreas Athanasiou scoring on a breakaway 1:52 into overtime to give the Wings a 3-2 win over the Wild.

For the Wings, who are now 4-1-1 in their last six games, they are playing for tomorrow. Detroit will miss the playoffs for the first time in 25 seasons.

"Every day is a fight for a job," Athanasiou said. "You come in every night and you've got to be ready to go.

"Someone wants to take your spot, so you have to do your best."

In the case of the Wild, already home and cooled out with a playoff spot clinched, the belief is that they need to wake up and start approaching the game like there's no tomorrow. Sunday's loss dropped them to 1-7-1 in their last nine games.

"For us, it's a different scenario," Wild forward Zach Parise said. "In the last four years, we've been scrambling at the end of the season just to get in (the playoffs).

"Now it's almost as if we had such a comfortable lead, we threw it on cruise control for a bit."

The Wild, who lost 4-2 at home Saturday to the Vancouver Canucks, felt that at least they were making progress toward the style of hockey they will need to play in order to make any noise in the playoffs.

"Looking bigger picture, this is the type of game we need to keep playing," Wild forward Eric Staal said. "We need to grab a hold of that and understand that.

"This is the type of hockey it's going to be for the rest of the way and playoff time. Be comfortable in these types of matches."

Minnesota twice took the lead, only to see Detroit rally each time.

Staal got behind the Wings defense and beat Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard on a breakaway to open the scoring 9:43 into the game, extending his point streak to four games.

With just 18.5 seconds left in the period, Mike Green tied it for Detroit after Minnesota's Charlie Coyle lost a defensive zone faceoff.

"Obviously not a play we want to give up on a faceoff in our end at that point but I'm not going to say much about it other than we don't want to give that goal up," said Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who made 16 saves.

The Wild reclaimed the lead in the second period when Detroit center Dylan Larkin accidentally swatted Nate Prosser's blue-line shot over Howard's shoulder and into the net. It was Prosser's first goal in 107 games.

The Wings, who blew a third-period lead and lost to Tampa Bay on Friday, rallied this time. Tomas Tatar scored on a Detroit power play just 55 seconds into the third period.

"It's nice to see the puck go in, that's for sure," said Tatar, who has scored 10 times in the last 17 games.

On Athanasiou's winner, he took a stretch pass from Gustav Nyquist and deked Dubnyk before sliding the puck into the net.

"I kind of just hopped on the ice there," Athanasiou said. "I saw them load up for the shot and Howie made a nice, played it nicely and Gus made a great pass."

Celebrating his 33rd birthday, Howard made 24 saves for the win.

NOTES: Since Jan. 24, Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg is tied for sixth in NHL scoring with 31 points (seven goals, 24 assists). ... Zetterberg's next power-play goal will be the 100th of his NHL career. ... Detroit F Frans Nielsen's first-period assist was his 250th in the NHL. ... Red Wings scratches were F Darren Helm (lower body injury) and D Ryan Sproul (knee). ... Wild scratches were D Christian Folin and F Chris Stewart. ... Wild D Ryan Suter has established a career high with nine goals this season. ... The Wild finished 8-17-3 all-time at Joe Louis Arena. ... Wild F Eric Staal has reached the 25-goal plateau for the first time since 2010-11. ... While the Red Wings likely will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1989-90, the Wild have qualified for postseason play for a franchise-record fifth successive season.