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Costly turnover sinks Stars in OT Wednesday, October 17, 2007 There were some positives for the Dallas Stars Friday night, but some missed opportunities and a crucial mistake in overtime proved costly. Matthew Lombardi's goal 3:20 into overtime, which came off a Dallas turnover, gave the Flames a 3-2 win at the American Airlines Center. After Brenden Morrow's drop pass missed Philippe Boucher at the Dallas blue line, Lombardi picked up the puck, raced towards the net and beat Stars goalie Marty Turco with a blast from near the left faceoff circle. It was the second goal of the game for Lombardi, who had tied the game at 2-2 with a goal midway through the third period. "That was just a poor play. That's a poor decision," Stars coach Dave Tippett said of Morrow's pass. "It was a poor play all the way around." Said Morrow," It was nobody's fault on that play but my own. ... It was just a bad play my me." The Stars also misfired on the power play, going 1-6 unofficially, failing to cash in on a lengthy five-on-three in the second period and missing on a chance to extend the lead in the third period. "Five-on-three we need to outwork the other team and get some pucks on the net," said Morrow. "I think we haven't scored on the last couple we've had." The loss dropped the Stars record to 2-2-1 on the season and denied them their third straight win at home to open the season. "We had some good things in the game. We played well," Stars forward Niklas Hagman, who scored his fifth goal of the season, said on FSN after the game. "We should have scored more goals, but [Flames goalie Miikka] Kiprusoff played well." The Flames won their first game of the season and improved to 1-2-1. "Huge win for us, a step in the right direction yet it's one win and we need to build on it," Lombardi said. Mike Modano and Hagman scored for the Stars, who fell to 2-2-1 on the season. Modano's goal was his first of the season and moved him to within four points of tying Phil Housley for most points by a U.S.-born player. The Stars struck early to take the lead. After Jere Lehtinen and Jussi Jokinen got the puck from Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf behind the Calgary net, Jokinen's pass into the slot hit traffic and went to Modano, who scored from the left circle at 4:27. The Stars came close to scoring a couple of other times, but Kiprusoff made a sprawling save on Jokinen and the Flames netminder may have gotten a piece of a Stu Barnes shot on a two-on-one break. The Flames scored with 22 seconds left in the first period to tie the game. After missing the net earlier on a breakaway, Flames captain beat a screen Turco off the rush from the right circle with a wrist shot. The second period featured a lot of power play time, but the Stars were the only team to cash in and that came off the rush when Niklas Hagman beat Kiprusoff with a blast from the top of the left faceoff circle at the 9:05 mark. But they missed on a lengthy five-on "I just puck the on net for a rebound for Juicy (Jussi Jokinen) or Lehts (Jere Lehtinen) and I ended up hitting the sweet spot," said Hagman. The Flames drew even midway through the third period just as a Stars' power play was expiring. Stephane Yelle got the puck up the ice to Lombardi and the speedy Flames winger busted down the left wing and beat Turco with a blast from the faceoff circle. That helped set the stage for overtime, Morrow's miscue and Lombardi's game-winner.
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