The San Diego Gulls won the first playoff game in franchise history, getting 28 saves from Anton Khudobin in a 3-1 road victory over the Texas Stars at Cedar Park Center on Thursday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-five Pacific Division semifinal series is set for Saturday night in Texas.
Antoine Laganiere put the Gulls on the board first, taking a feed from Matt Bailey and slipping a shot past Maxime Lagace for his first career AHL playoff goal at 15:00 of the opening period.
Texas pulled even just 39 seconds into the middle frame as Justin Dowling took a long pass from Esa Lindell, broke in on Khudobin and scored shorthanded to make it 1-1.
Michael Sgarbossa forced a turnover down low and Nick Ritchie pounced on the loose puck, ripping a shot past Lagace from in close to make it 2-1 for San Diego with 4:02 left in the second period.
Chris Mueller, a member of the Stars’ Calder Cup championship team in 2014, sent a no-look backhand shot past Lagace with 9:04 remaining in regulation to close out the scoring.
Khudobin (1-0) got the win in his first postseason appearance in any league since backstopping the Houston Aeros to the conference finals in 2009.
Lagace (0-1) finished with 14 saves in his pro playoff debut.
Pacific Division Semifinals – Series “H” (best-of-5)
P2-San Diego Gulls vs. P3-Texas Stars
Game 1 – Thu., Apr. 21 – San Diego 3, TEXAS 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 23 – San Diego at Texas, 8:00
Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Texas at San Diego, 10:05
*Game 4 – Fri., Apr. 29 – Texas at San Diego, 10:05
*Game 5 – Mon., May 2 – Texas at San Diego, 10:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
.@alaganiere with the first goal of the game and the first #CalderCup goal for the @SDGullsAHL #SDvsTEX pic.twitter.com/rEfhF21JGY
— AHL (@TheAHL) April 22, 2016