CEDAR PARK, Texas -- Michal Postava became the 10th rookie goaltender in franchise history to win in his debut, as he aided the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 3-2 victory over the Texas Stars on Saturday, rounding out their opening-weekend sweep at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. 

During his AHL debut, the Czech netminder posted 27 saves on 29 shots. The game-winner ultimately came from Austin Watson early in the third period and Amadeus Lombardi also got in on the action with a career-high three assists. Newly appointed captain Dominik Shine registered a goal – the first one of the contest in the second frame – which was assisted by Erik Gustafsson, who was assigned to Grand Rapids from Detroit earlier this morning. John Leonard secured his first goal as a Griffin after putting up a career-best 36 last season with the Charlotte Checkers. Grand Rapids killed off five penalties in the contest and went a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill during the weekend. The Griffins improved to 2-0 for the second time in the past three years and have begun the season with a pair of road wins for the first time since 2007, when their first three games were all road victories and they started 5-0 in foreign territory. 

Though the Griffins were unable to score in the first period, there was no stopping the squad in attempts on net. Grand Rapids went on the penalty kill late in the frame, and Shine skated in on a breakaway moments later but his chance sailed wide. Just as the penalty kill wound off the clock, Carter Mazur sent a back-handed pass to Alex Doucet, who was left wide open in the slot, but the shot ricocheted off the pads of goaltender Ben Kraws.

Grand Rapids opened the scoring in the second period with a pair of goals from veterans Shine and Leonard. It started at the 7:06 mark after Grand Rapids had received a power-play opportunity. Gustafsson ripped the puck toward the front of the net where Shine was able to tip it past Kraws to give the squad a 1-0 advantage. Five minutes and 10 seconds later, Leonard won a puck battle along the boards, skated across the right circle, and slipped the puck underneath the pads of Kraws, doubling the Griffins' lead.

Grand Rapids came out firing during the final stanza. At the 4:08 mark, Justin Holl skated around the back of the net and passed the puck up ice to Lombardi. Lombardi then fed the disc across the left circle to Watson, who slapped it over the glove of Kraws for a three-goal lead. 

With 8:37 left, the Stars broke Postava’s shutout bid when Harrison Scott redirected a puck, sending it behind the netminder to cut the Griffins' lead to 3-1. Four minutes and seven seconds later, former Griffin Cross Hanas deflected a puck at the net front, cutting the deficit to just one. With just 42 seconds remaining, the Stars pulled Kraws from the net while on a penalty kill, but they could not secure the tying goal.

Notes

• The Griffins have started 2-0 on the road for the first time since 2019.
• The Griffins will look to improve to 3-0 to start the season for the first since their second Calder Cup-winning campaign in 2016-17. They return home this Friday to face the Manitoba Moose at 7 p.m. at Van Andel Arena.

Box Score
Grand Rapids 0 2 1 - 3
Texas 0 0 2 - 2

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bantle Gr (fighting), 9:07; Seminoff Tex (fighting), 9:07; Becher Gr (high-sticking), 14:46.

2nd Period-1, Grand Rapids, Shine 1 (Gustafsson, Lombardi), 7:06 (PP). 2, Grand Rapids, Leonard 1 (Wallinder, Lombardi), 12:16. Penalties-Shlaine Tex (slashing), 2:53; Kolyachonok Tex (interference), 6:15; Angle Gr (interference), 8:04; Hughes Tex (high-sticking), 8:12; Mazur Gr (roughing), 9:10; Kolyachonok Tex (roughing), 9:10; Doucet Gr (roughing), 12:07; Taylor Tex (roughing), 12:07; Becher Gr (holding), 14:16; McKenzie Tex (tripping), 18:51.

3rd Period-3, Grand Rapids, Watson 1 (Lombardi, Holl), 4:08. 4, Texas, Scott 1 (Kolyachonok, Seminoff), 11:23. 5, Texas, Hanas 1 (White, Hughes), 15:30. Penalties-Lombardi Gr (holding), 8:07; Wallinder Gr (slashing), 17:08; served by Chisholm Tex (too many men - bench minor), 18:54.

Shots on Goal-Grand Rapids 7-9-9-25. Texas 8-13-8-29.
Power Play Opportunities-Grand Rapids 1 / 5; Texas 0 / 5.
Goalies-Grand Rapids, Postava 1-0-0 (29 shots-27 saves). Texas, Kraws 0-1-0 (25 shots-22 saves).
A-6,247

Three Stars

1. GR Postava (W, 27 saves) ; 2. TEX Scott (goal); 3. TEX Hanas (goal)

Record/Next Game
Grand Rapids: 2-0-0-0 (4 pts.) / Fri., Oct. 17 vs. Manitoba 7 p.m.
Texas: 0-2-0-0 (0 pts.) / Fri., Oct. 17 at Rockford 7 p.m. CDT

Photo by Texas Stars