There was a lot of craziness that unraveled during Sunday afternoon’s matchup between the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks, in which Mats Zuccarello made an immediate impact following his trade. But Dallas can’t seem to catch a break.

Are we in the twilight zone? Is this some bad dream that the Stars as a whole are going to wake up from and breath a sigh of relief?

The Stars beat the Blackhawks to fend off another Central Division team, for now, but it came at a huge cost. The game was a roller coaster of a win that saw the Stars surprisingly win the first period and then have to rely on Anton Khudobin and the defense to take home the win.

Jamie Benn was the first one down for Dallas as the captain left the ice rather quickly and abruptly. No one could really put a finger on what caused his injury, but none the less he wouldn’t return and would be evaluated for an upper-body injury.

Sean Shapiro reported that apparently, Benn was trying to play through an incident that occurred against the Carolina Hurricanes. The injury doesn’t seem to be too serious, though, as Benn is day-to-day and will still travel with the Stars for the continuation of this road trip.

Surprisingly, losing the captain didn’t affect the Stars all too much. In fact, the updated top line of Tyler Seguin, Alexander Radulov, and Mats Zuccarello found immediate chemistry. That line seemed to work out best for Zuccarello after he dabbling in a couple of different lines throughout the day, where he collected an assist on the Radek Faksa goal in the first period.

Yes, you heard that right, the Dallas Stars scored in the first period, I know surprising. What was even more surprising is Dallas scoring two first period goals, that’s how I knew this game was going to be weird.

For the first time in a while, it was a fun first period to watch. Unlike against Carolina Saturday night, Dallas came out and put pressure on Chicago in the offensive zone. The offense, as a whole, showed more heart and the chemistry flowed well from all lines in the opening frame.

The Blackhawks kept some pressure on with a nice counterattack by breaking through the defense along the boards, which wouldn’t bite the Stars until the latter half of the game.

This is because through the first the Stars’ defense did a good job in getting the puck out to not let up second chances. That and great neutral zone play.

Add into the mix that Mats Zuccarello added a third goal to open up the middle frame. The acquisition that left New York at nearly five in the morning was already panning out with an assist and a goal in only 22 minutes of play.

That fun was very short-lived, though, as Zuccarello blocked a shot late in the second period that caught his arm roughly around where the glove ends and the elbow pad starts. And so all of a sudden the offensive threat that Dallas acquired to get them to a potential playoff spot is gone for four weeks with a possible broken arm.

His return is either looking like the last couple weeks of regular season play or just a return in the playoffs, if the Stars can survive that long.

The roller coaster continued its rough descent in the second period with two goals to the Blackhawks’ credit. It then continued downhill into the third with an early goal from a Chicago power play.

The first goal for Chicago was tough, mainly because the Blackhawks caught Dallas on a change and got a clean look at Khudobin.

The second goal was equally tough to swallow as Khudobin made a wildly athletic move to nearly make the save. Originally deemed no goal, it was ultimately reversed as the puck crossed the line from within Khudobin’s glove.

It came on an incredible effort by the Blackhawks as Chicago broke down the Dallas defense in getting them to rotate over. The Stars rotated but left a man open on the opposite side who then received the pass and sent the puck in.

The third goal, at the beginning of the third period, the Stars were simply not aggressive enough with their penalty kill. The defense held off and Jonathan Toews made them pay with a strike from outside.

The roller coaster of a ride went immediately back up as Jason Spezza fired in a game-deciding power-play goal. Dallas had a nice chunk to spend on a five-on-three and against the worst penalty kill in the league.

In the final period, the Stars looked just absolutely gassed. And that was before Dallas spent six of their final 10 minutes of play on the penalty kill.

Despite letting up the power-play goal, the Stars’ penalty kill and Khudobin played superbly to finish out the game. The Stars learned from the goal from Toews and so they played out aggressively on the penalty kill, meanwhile, Khudobin made saves left and right.

It was an onslaught of pucks coming towards Khudobin as the Blackhawks’ shots on goal neared 50. But Khudobin and the defense stood tall and finished the game out 4-3.

It was tough, hard-fought, yet very entertaining to watch. But most of all, the game showed that Dallas must be cursed or that the Stars simply can’t have nice things.

Every facet of the team was on full display Sunday as Dallas’ offense kicked in to put the Stars up and then the defense finished off the game. While the latter half of the game was a bit of a struggle, the Stars pull out with the win but at a high cost.

Jamie Benn and Mats Zuccarello weren’t the only two forwards to sustain injuries in the game. Andrew Cogliano spent some time off of the ice after getting whacked in the face and Brett Ritchie I believe also looked to be in some pain at one point.

What do the Stars do Next?

Well, four forwards sustained some type of injury, luckily only Zuccarello looks to be out for the long haul.

The big question is, how does Jim Nill respond?

He can either continue to think that this Stars team is fine where it’s at minus Zuccarello and just push forward. Or he has until Monday afternoon to make another move.

Based off of previous weeks’ play, Nill needs to push to make another trade through Monday. Dallas just simply needs that scoring threat to make it into the playoffs.

I mean just look at what the team had done in recent weeks, struggling to get by.

Then they get a scoring threat and get a taste of what could be. The lack of Zuccarello cannot lead to a regression to what the offense has looked like recently. Dallas, in all likelihood, needs that something extra and that was Zuccarello.

The Stars are right there on the bubble but start to fall off without help, we saw the same last season and Nill did nothing about it. This season, Nill didn’t make the same mistake again but with that help gone, another deal should be done so Dallas doesn’t fall off the map again.

Without Zuccarello, Dallas needs another extra threat. It’s that or the Stars find how to get scoring with the guys they have, who have been inconsistent.

Another big question is who does Dallas target? And who have they already been in talks with to speed up the process on Monday if a deal is done?

Don’t forget, Dallas has the option to send Stephen Johns and Tyler Pitlick to the IR in order to free up cap space in order to make a move.

Targets?

Well, Gustav Nyquist would have been an interesting piece to look at. But he is off the block as the San Jose Sharks made a move for him Sunday night.

Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene are crossed off from that list as both of them were dealt last week.

Mark Stone is being heavily shopped, but the Ottawa Senators have been reported to want roughly two first-round picks and a couple of prospects. So there, the question is, what prospects do you send them? And are you willing to give a couple of first-rounders?

I don’t mind giving them the picks as I don’t think Dallas does a good job in drafting and developing so why not give it a shot. But then looking at what prospects would be interesting to send Ottawa’s way.

Artemi Panarin is still being shopped by the Colombus Blue Jackets, so can Dallas strike a deal for the winger with 68 points on the year? Colombus wants a gigantic deal so the odds that Dallas makes this happen is very low.

With the Colombus’ acquisition of Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, they might keep Panarin to make a run. Or are they going to get rid of him and bringing in Duchene was to help with his departure? The Blue Jackets are still listening to offers for Panarin but if they strike a deal with any team come Monday will be interesting and not likely.

Wayne Simmonds is among those other names being shopped around, but I think an interesting option that not a lot have looked into is Kasperi Kapanen.

He has had a breakout season for the Toronto Maple Leafs and is still young at 22. Toronto is very offensively loaded but in need of help on the defensive side. So maybe deal Julius Honka here, who in my mind is very expendable.

Honka is still young and could use a new city to have a fresh start. While he might not have too much pull in trade bait with his struggles, I think him and Valeri Nichuskin are the most expendable on this Stars roster right now. Along with some picks, they could be interesting if a team was enticed to give them a fresh start or unload a veteran player or get rid of a contract/upcoming free agent that Dallas is willing to absorb to get help on offense.

Kevin Hayes and/or Wayne Simmonds would be the most likely for Dallas to acquire as they won’t cost as much as Panarin or Stone. Plus, Dallas knows what New York wants right off the bat since they have been in talks from the Zuccarello trade. Simmonds is a veteran that would be a boost to help this team.

But no matter what the case is, It will be interesting to see if Jim Nill can strike a deal or push forward with the current roster.