Dallas Stars Bulletin Board: Zuccarello out, the road, and more

Get all the latest news on upcoming games, the last week, roster changes, and more on the Dallas Stars as they progress through the rest of the season.

With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, let’s dive right into the latest Bulletin Board and break down all the top Stars news both in the recent past and as for what lies ahead of them.

Last Week in Review

The Dallas Stars have continued their mediocrity that has run rampant since what seems like the beginning of the season—splitting their past four games down the middle.

To kick off last week, Dallas hosted the Nashville Predators, whom Dallas had matched up against previously two times earlier in the month. Newly acquired forward Brian Boyle, defenseman Rocco Grimaldi, elite forward Filip Forsberg, and captain Roman Josi (2) all found the back of the net for the Predators to help contribute to a 5-3 defeat over the Stars.

Dallas did have goals from Jason Spezza—who hadn’t scored since Dec. 29 when the Stars defeated the Detroit Red Wings—as well as Esa Lindell and Tyler Seguin; all of which came in the middle period. The tides took a turn when Lindell and Seguin’s tallies came just 26 seconds apart to give Dallas a 3-2 lead, but the Predators’ offense rebounded and scored three unanswered goals to win the game.

Anton Khudobin, who has spent a large amount of time between the pipes covering for injured teammate Ben Bishop, made 42 saves in the loss. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne made 28 saves on 30 shots.

After the Stars’ loss (which was their third defeat in a row after losing 6-0 to Tampa Bay and 3-0 to Carolina), they hosted the St. Louis Blues, who were riding a record-breaking 11-game win streak. Blues netminders Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen were on fire, having shutout three opponents in their last four games before playing the Stars on Thursday night. But, the Stars shined bright, and Dallas put on an offensive display that showed playoff promise.

Jamie Benn, Radek Faksa, and Alexander Radulov all scored no later than ten minutes into the second period to put Dallas up 3-0 early. Benn, who reached the 20-goal mark for the ninth time in his career that night, also scored again later in the same period, and Faksa’s goal was his 100th career point. By the end of the first 40 minutes of play, Dallas had a two-goal step over St. Louis, who had seen scores from Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly.

Tyler Seguin scored the only tally of the first period, an empty-netter, with 44 seconds left in the game to increase the score to 5-2. Although Dallas had lost five out of their last six games, the top line returned to its natural scoring form, Anton Khudobin made 43 saves, and Dallas stopped St. Louis at the door, ending their 11-game streak.

Following a dominant offensive 5-2 victory over a tough Central Division opponent, Dallas hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in what was the final home match of the month.

Something interesting that Carolina likes to do is wear their red home jerseys on the road—rumor is that Canes’ owner Tom Dundon doesn’t like the white jerseys. So, on Saturday, Dallas wore its white away uniforms at home.

There’s just one problem; not only did Dallas look as if they were the road team, but they played like it, too. Lucas Wallmark, Justin Faulk, and Jordan Martinook each scored for the Canes in the first, second, and third periods, respectively, and Dallas was shut out by Carolina by a score of 3-0 for the second time in a week. Ben Bishop returned to action and was able to stop 28 of 30 Hurricane shots, but Dallas fell another Metropolitan Division opponent.

After going 1-2 on the homestand, Dallas headed out on a four-game road trip that began on Sunday afternoon in Chicago. The Stars would be joined by forward Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Ben Lovejoy, both of whom were acquired on Saturday by the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, respectively.

Lovejoy finished the game with 18:03 minutes of ice time.

Zuccarello notched his first point for Dallas on the first goal of the game, as he had the first assist on Radek Faksa’s breakaway five-hole snipe.

Not only was a goal scored on that play, but a fight broke out as well, with Dallas’ Jason Dickinson and Chicago’s John Hayden dropping the gloves back in the Stars’ defensive zone.

Alexander Radulov scored six minutes later to bring his goal total to 17 on the year, and Dallas headed into the first break up 2-0 on the road.

Zuccarello reappeared on the scoresheet just 1:44 into the second with his first goal on the team with a one-timer from the right circle to bring the lead to three.

After the Stars’ three-goal spurt, Chicago answered back with three of their own, with Chris Kunitz and Drake Caggiula scoring at 2:58 and 15:37 in the second, and Jonathan Toews scoring shortly into the third on a Blackhawks powerplay to tie the game.

However, Dallas went on a 5-on-3 after Chicago was called for too many men on the ice and a tripping call on Duncan Kieth. Alexander Radulov had the puck down low near the goal line, patiently waited for a passing lane and found Jason Spezza open on the other side of the net, who banged home Radulov’s cross-crease pass to retake the lead.

Anton Khudobin had an outstanding game, making several key saves and stopping 44 of 47 shots.

Although Dallas was able to defeat the Blackhawks, it came at a cost—Jamie Benn left the game after his first shift and didn’t return with an upper-body injury, which the Stars’ believe he suffered in Saturday’s loss against Carolina. Andrew Cogliano left the game in the first period, but he returned to play in the second. Jason Dickinson also may have aggravated his left arm and had to kill a Chicago powerplay without using it.

But the most significant news of the game was that Zuccarello, Dallas’ newest Star, was out for the game after blocking a shot with less than a minute left in the second period and didn’t return to the game.

The team announced that he had broken his arm after the game and would be out for four weeks to recover from surgery.