Anton Khudobin stopped 28 of 29 shots and Mike Sgarbossa and Chris Wagner both had a goal and two assists as the San Diego Gulls defeated the Texas Stars, 6-1, Thursday night in Game 3 of their Calder Cup Playoffs Pacific Division semifinal series at Valley View Casino Center.
The Gulls lead the best-of-five series, two games to one. They can wrap up the series Friday with a victory in Game 4, also at Valley View Casino Center.
Game 5, if necessary, would be played Monday at Valley View Casino Center.
The Gulls scored the game’s first four goals.
Defenseman Brandon Montour opened the scoring five minutes, 55 seconds into the first period with a power-play goal off assists by Sgarbossa and Shea Theodore.
Nick Ritchie continued his streak of scoring in each game of the playoffs with a goal at 8:51 of the second period, off assists by Chris Mueller and Sgarbossa.
Sgarbossa put a backhanded shot past Texas goaltender Jack Campbell for a power-play goal 11:58 into the second period off assists by Theodore and Khudobin.
Joseph Cramarossa increased the Gulls lead to 4-0 when he scored at 14:27 of the second period off assists by Wagner and defenseman Andrew Welinski.
Defenseman Esa Lindell ended Khudobin’s bid for a shutout when he scored 3:22 into the third period.
Stefan Noesen scored at 5:35 into the third period, off assists by Wagner and Ondrej Kase.
Wagner scored the final goal with 4:39 left off assists by Theodore, his third of the game, and Noesen.
Campbell made 42 saves before a crowd announced at 6,571.
The Gulls killed all four of the power-play opportunities for the Stars, the Dallas Stars’ American Hockey League affiliate, and scored on two of their six power-play opportunities.
Wagner and Theodore were among four players reassigned to the Gulls Thursday by their NHL parent team, the Anaheim Ducks, one day after their season ended with a 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
—City News Service