Blackhawks host Mats Zuccarello, Stars

The Blackhawks host winger Mats Zuccarello and the Stars on Sunday at the United Center.

Dallas acquired Zuccarello from the Rangers on Saturday night after a 3-0 home loss to Carolina. The Stars sent a conditional second-round pick in the 2019 NHL draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2020 NHL draft. The 31-year-old Zuccarello has 11 goals and 37 points in 46 games this season. He’ll slide into the top line alongside Jamie Benn and center Roope Hintz.

The Stars also traded defenseman Connor Carrick and a 2019 third-round pick to New Jersey for defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who will slot into the third line with Jamie Oleksiak.

Dallas currently holds the first wild card spot in the Western Conference at 65 points. Chicago is four points back of Colorado for the second wild card spot.

Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 20 games with his 39th goal of the season in the Blackhawks’ 5-3 home loss to the Avalanche on Friday. Kane is quickly closing in on the 100-point mark for the second time in his career with 93 points this season. His career high is 106 points during the 2015-16 season.

Kane isn’t the only player putting up big numbers as Jonathan Toews is having a bounce back season with 63 points (28 goals, 35 assists) in 62 games. Toews is also close to his career high of 76 points, which he set in 2010-11. Dylan Strome is close to averaging a point per game with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) in 38 games since being traded from Arizona in November.

Defenseman Brent Seabrook (abdominal strain) will play after missing the last two games, while fellow blue liner Carl Dahlstrom (flu-like symptoms) remains out. Forward Marcus Kruger (right foot) will be a game-time decision after exiting Friday’s game after blocking a shot in the first period. Chicago did re-assign rookie defenseman Henri Jokiharju to the AHL on Saturday after he skated 9:14 minutes of the ice time Friday on an emergency call up as Dahlstrom sat out.

Cam Ward will return to the crease for Chicago after Collin Delia allowed four goals in the loss to Colorado. Ward is 14-9-4 with a 3.69 goals-against average and .894 save percentage in 28 appearances.

Tyler Seguin leads the Stars in scoring with 57 points (26 goals, 31 assists) in 61 games. Alexander Radulov isn’t far behind at 47 points in only 51 games.

Anton Khudobin will start in net for Dallas. He’s 11-13-3 with a 2.56 GAA and .923 in 27 starts.

The Blackhawks are 1-0 this season against the Stars with a 5-2 victory Dec. 20 in Dallas. The division foes meet two more times this season, March 9 in Dallas and April 5 in Chicago.

Lineups

Blackhawks

Caggiula — Toews — Kane

DeBrincat — Strome — Kahun

Saad — Anisimov — Sikura

Kunitz — Kruger* — Hayden

Keith — Seabrook

Gustafsson — Murphy

Koekkoek — Forsling

Ward

Delia

Stars

Benn — Hintz — Zuccarello

Janmark — Seguin — Radulov

Cogliano — Faksa — Comeau

Dickinson — Spezza — Ritchie

Lindell — Klingberg

Heiskanen — Polak

Oleksiak — Lovejoy

Khudobin

Bishop

How to Watch

When: 2 p.m., Central

Where: United Center, Chicago

TV: WGN