The Stars depend on Brenden Morrow's leadership, his ability to score tough goals and rally teammates in difficult times.

On Friday night, the Stars captain added a very un-Morrow-like quality. He made a mistake that resulted in Calgary's 3-2 victory in overtime.

With the teams skating four-on-four, Morrow attempted a lazy drop pass to defenseman Philippe Boucher. But the puck fluttered away from Boucher. Matthew Lombardi pounced on the loose puck, blasting a shot past Marty Turco 3:20 into the extra period.

The victory broke the Flames' eight-game winless streak to Dallas at American Airlines Center.

Coach Dave Tippett wanted to see several things from the Stars. Gift wrapping the Flames' first win wasn't on his list. Neither was blowing two one-goal leads or failing to convert a two-man advantage.

"They played exactly how we thought they would play," Tippett said. "They were hungry. They were all around it. I thought at different parts of the game, we were around it, too. But key times in the game, we failed to protect the puck as good as we should. And the biggest blunder was the last one, and it cost us a point."

Tippett wasn't bailing out his captain. Asked if it was a communication problem, the coach quickly said, "That was just a poor play. That's a poor decision, a poor play all the way around."

Turco couldn't make things right. In the blink of an eye, Lombardi was winding up and sending a shot between Turco's pad and the near post.

Just like that, the Stars dropped to 2-3, and the Flames (1-2-1) were no longer winless.

"Something like that happens so fast, he's right on top of him," Tippett said. "The goaltender didn't have a chance."

Morrow has made a career out of finding ways to win. That's why he's captain. He took full responsibility for the gaffe.

"It was no one's fault but my own," he said. "My teammates rely on me to make those plays. And the onus is completely on me."

MILTON HINNANT / DMN

The Stars' Joel Lundquvist (left) sends the Flames' Jarome Iginia for a tumble as they scramble for the puck.

With the puck rolling in no-man's land, Boucher had no chance of getting the puck before Lombardi. Afterward, Boucher tried to take some of the blame.

"I thought Brenden had full control on that last play," Boucher said. "It's my responsibility to stay back, and it ended up costing us the game. We need to bounce back with two points in Chicago."

Mike Modano opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. Jere Lehtinen made a nice play behind, wresting the puck to Jussi Jokinen beside the net. Jokinen's pass was deflected, and Modano scooped it up and converted his wrist shot at 4:27.

But that lead was lost with 22 seconds remaining in the first period. After missing on a breakaway chance three minutes earlier, Calgary's Jarome Iginla beat Marty Turco from the top of the circle.

Niklas Hagman scored the only goal of the second period, beating Miikka Kiprusoff with a slapshot. But Lombardi tied it at the 10:46 mark in the third.

Calgary drew six penalties to Dallas' four.

"Losing two one-goal leads is tough," Modano said. "Our power play struggled again. It was one of the areas that could have made the difference for us."