Artem Shlaine broke a scoreless tie 1:53 into the third period to send the Texas Stars to a 2-0 win over Chicago in the opener of their Central Division semifinal on Tuesday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Thursday in Cedar Park.
Shlaine, whose 19 regular-season goals this year tied for eighth among all AHL rookies, took a back-door pass from Matthew Seminoff and banged home a power-play goal to give the Stars the lead.
Texas limited Chicago to just five shots on goal in the final period, and Shlaine put his second goal of the game into an empty net with 19.1 seconds remaining.
Rémi Poirier made 16 saves on the night for his third career Calder Cup Playoff shutout. Cameron Hughes assisted on both Stars goals, moving him to 12th on the AHL’s all-time list with 52 career postseason helpers.
Cayden Primeau stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Wolves.
(Texas leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Tue., Apr. 28 – TEXAS 2, Chicago 0
Game 2 – Thu., Apr. 30 – Chicago at Texas, 8:00
Game 3 – Sat., May 2 – Texas at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 4 – Sun., May 3 – Texas at Chicago, 4:00
*Game 5 – Tue., May 5 – Texas at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern