With a Calgary win and a Phoenix regulation loss tonight, the Flames could have done something that they have yet to do this year: find themselves in the top 8 teams in the Western Conference. Unfortunately, the Dallas Stars were set on making the playoffs too, so they didn’t roll over and let Calgary get two easy points. At 2:01 of overtime, Mike Ribero stepped up after a nice behind-the-back stick play at the point and fired a slap shot over Miikka Kiprusoff’s shoulder to give the Dallas Stars the win.

All-in-all, Ribero played a great game, as did many of his teammates, whose hard forechecking gave the Flames trouble all night. Calgary put in a good effort, but it was ultimately not enough to earn two points.

Dallas opened the scoring halfway through the first period when Adam Burish took a pass from behind the net and lofted it over Miikka Kiprusoff. It was a real floater of a goal, but it counted.

Jarome Iginla evened the score as time wound down in the period by fighting off two Stars players, putting his stick on the ice and going to the net. Alex Tanguay fired the puck onto his stick from the side boards and Iggy tapped it into the Dallas net to make it 1-1.

Dallas out-shot Calgary 12-5 in the second period and ended up eventually getting the go-ahead goal with just over 2 minutes left. Ribero passed the puck to veteran, Steve Ott, who slapped the puck through a screen and past Kipper into the net. Alex Tanguay had a nice chance to tie the game with about 4 minutes to go in the 2nd, but fired his slap shot off the crossbar.

In the third, the Flames had 4 minutes of powerplay after two Dallas players, Trevor Daly and Ott, took near-consecutive penalties. Unfortunately, the Flames couldn’t find the back of the net, but just after the second penalty expired, Mike Cammalleri scored his 13th goal of the season to tie the game again. After several minutes of disjointed play from his teammates, Cammalleri received a beautiful pass from Jay Bouwmeester while skating to the side of the net and roofed the puck behind Kari Lehtonen.

The Calgary Flames were very lucky to get out of this game with one point. It was definitely a bonus because they were out-worked and out-hustled all night. The good news is that the Flames top players keep scoring. Iggy and Cammalleri both scored goals while Jokinen and Tanguay added assists. Jay Bo also added his 19th assist of the season so, while they may not have put in an great team effort, the Flames big guns are still hot. That will continue to be necessary if they hope to make the post-season.

Here are the highlights.