Bishop stops 34 shots in 6-4 Stars win

DAL LAS The day after Thanksgiving is supposed to be all about leftovers.

The Calgary Flames, it seemed, were all about turnovers.

The Flames wasted a superb performance by their top line on Black Friday, repeatedly coughing up pucks — and repeatedly coughing up the lead — in a 6- 4 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

“We kept getting leads and then just blowing them,” Flames defenceman Dougie Hamilton said. “Every time we got a goal, we’d give up a goal. We couldn’t hold onto a lead and play with the lead, and that’s what hurt us.”

The Calgary Flames’ top trio of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Micheal Ferland combined for four goals and eight points in Dallas.

Monahan potted a pair and also added a helper, Gaudreau scored once and provided a couple of assists and Ferland collected one of each.

Thanks to the … uh … generosity of their teammates, it wasn’t enough.

Stars sharpshooter Tyler Seguin scored the eventual game- winner with six minutes remaining in regulation, grabbing Michael Stone’s bank- pass off the boards — for some head- scratching reason, right- winger Kris Versteeg let it slide by — and ripping a gloveside shot past Flames masked man Mike Smith.

Seguin completed a hat- trick into an empty net, while Antoine Roussel, Alex Radulov and Gemel Smith also tickled twine for the hosts, with each of the Stars’ snipes coming after a giveaway or failed clearing attempt by a member of Calgary’s blueline brigade.

“It’s like in tennis — you don’t want to hit the ball into the net. Just get it over and let them beat you,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan.

“What we’re doing is we’re selfinflicting with some needless plays. Not high- risk plays, just simple plays that we’re just not executing, and it’s costing us.”

The Flames seem to be their own worst enemy, but they insist doubt is not an issue.

“We’re a good team. We believe that we’re a good team and we believe in one another,” defenceman Travis Hamonic said. “That area is not creeping into our game whatsoever as a team. We believe in the group that we have on the ice. We know that we can do it. We just have to go out there and do it and execute.

“But we know we have it here and we’re ready to keep pushing forward. We have to come back with a good effort and I know we will.”

Next up for the Flames is Saturday’s clash with the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center ( 8 p. m., CBC/ Sportsnet 960 The Fan), the final stop on this marathon sixgame sojourn.