CALGARY – The Stars lost defenseman Mattias Norstrom to a lower body injury in the second period, backup goalie Mike Smith was in scramble mode in his first start in six games, and the Stars as a team looked tired and out of sorts.

Yet they still found a way to beat the Calgary Flames.

In one of the craziest games of the season, Smith (22 saves) was on the edge of disaster about 15 times, but came up with athletic save after athletic save and backstopped the Stars to a 3-2 overtime win at the Pengrowth Saddledome Friday night.

The victory ended a four-game road trip at 3-1-0 for the Stars and pushed Dallas to 20-12-4 on the season.

"We were running on fumes that last period, but give the guys some credit," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We got a great effort out of some key players. We hung around the game, we blocked a ton of shots, we only had five D, those guys were really chugging hard to stay in it, and Smitty came up big when he had to."

It was a combination of amazing athletic ability, a ton of luck and a lot of want-to.

"We were in the locker room after the second period and the players said, 'We've got 20 minutes left in this trip, let's just max out for the final 20 minutes.' And we managed to get two points."

After Smith survived a hectic third period, Mike Ribeiro scored his second goal of the game at the 57 second mark of overtime. Ribeiro won a face-off back to Sergei Zubov and then rolled to the front of the net. Zubov then sent a pass that Ribeiro deflected past Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff for the game-winner.

"That was a heads-up play by Zubie," Ribeiro said. "He knew right where to put it."

Ribeiro was one of the players who helped carry a roster that was sagging – the same with the line of Niklas Hagman, Jussi Jokinen and Loui Eriksson. Hagman finished with eight shots on goal and scored his 12th goal of the season. Eriksson had a sweet set-up for the second game in a row. Jokinen logged 16:01 in ice time, his third highest mark of the season.

It was a group effort on a night when the Stars were not at their best, and the Flames wanted to keep alive a six-game winning streak. Calgary fell to 17-13-6.

Smith was at the root of keeping the game competitive. The Flames buzzed around the net and finished with 24 shots on goal, 15 that were blocked and 13 that missed the net. They also dished out 19 hits.

"It was a tough game to play, because there were 24 shots and yet it felt like there were 40," Smith said. "They just were determined to throw the puck at the net and get into scrambles. So that's what we had to deal with."

Smith (7-5-0) was making only his third appearance in the past 13 games. He also had lost his previous two starts. He said that made him a little nervous at the start of the game, but that he eventually settled into some sort of rhythm.

AP

The Dallas Stars' Jeff Halpern (right) and Calgary's Eric Nystrom fight for the puck.

That rhythm, however, included sliding saves, diving on the puck, losing his stick a couple of times and dealing with a collision or two.

"Smitty was great," Ribeiro said. "He and the PK at the end of the game, that got us into the overtime."

While trying to hold the fort and force the extra period, Antti Miettinen took a hooking penalty in the final two minutes. The defense and Smith somehow kept the puck out on a frantic penalty kill, and that allowed Ribeiro to work his magic. It was a continuation of the same type of skill he showed on a first period goal – when he took a pass from Brenden Morrow and then floated across the slot, drawing Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff down lower and further away from the net. Ribeiro then gently lifted a backhander over Kiprusoff.

"I just felt him coming out and decided I should wait a little longer," said Ribeiro, who has a team high 18 goals and 36 points. "I was lucky, I almost missed it."

Ribeiro is closing on his career best for goal-scoring (20 goals).

The Flames came roaring back with goals by Alex Tanguay and Matthew Lombardi and appeared to have the game well in hand after that. However, Smith would not allow them to expand that 2-1 lead, and Dallas tied it up at the 4:01 mark of the third period.

Eriksson came up with a huge play. He received a puck in the left circle, faded away from the net to draw the defense toward him and then found Hagman sneaking in the back door. Hagman potted his 12th goal of the season to tie the score.

Smith then closed the door on a frenetic Flames attack and paved the way for what might be one of the most memorable wins of the year.

"It feels good," Smith said. "It's fun when you can do something and feel like you really helped the team. That's just a great feeling."