Lane Pederson snapped home the go-ahead goal with 1:15 to play as the Tucson Roadrunners began their Pacific Division semifinal series with a 4-2 win over San Jose at the SAP Center on Thursday night.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Saturday evening.
Playing the first postseason game in franchise history, Tucson never trailed in the contest, getting goals from Dakota Mermis and Ryan MacInnis to take 1-0 and 2-1 leads.
Dylan Strome added an empty-netter with 13.1 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Alexander True and Sasha Chmelevski scored for the Barracuda, who had entered the playoffs having won their last six regular-season games.
Adin Hill stopped 36 shots for the win in his playoff debut. Antoine Bibeau made 20 saves in the loss for San Jose.
