Mats Zuccarello’s debut with the Stars started well and ended in misfortune.
The former Rangers forward was in the lineup for Dallas on Sunday in Chicago after being traded late Saturday night for two draft picks. The Stars will have to wait a while to see him in uniform again.
Zuccarello, who played 13:35 in all, exited the game late in the second period with an upper body injury after blocking a shot and did not return. The Stars later announced he was heading back to Dallas for evaluation, but the early assessment is he is expected to miss at least four weeks.
“I blocked a shot and it hit me the wrong way,” said Zuccarello, whose arm was in a soft cast with a splint. “It’s unfortunate.I kind of knew it right away, not that it was broken, but something was wrong.”
It was a nightmarish end to a game that started with such promise for Zuccarello. He assisted on Radek Faksa’s goal to open the scoring in the first period and then found the back of the net himself from the right slot off a pass from Tyler Seguin to give the Stars a 3-0 lead over the Blackhawks at 1:44 of the second period. Dallas ended up winning the game 4-3 to take a two-point lead over the Avalanche for the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The Stars gave up a second-round pick in 2019, which would become a first-rounder if Dallas wins two playoff rounds, and a third-rounder in 2020 that would become a first-rounder if the Stars re-sign the 31-year-old Zuccarello.
The game also saw the Stars debut of defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who was acquired from the Devils on Saturday. He saw 18:03 of ice time.