The Texas Tornado lost Game 1 of the South Division Final on Thursday, falling to the regular-season champion Amarillo Bulls by a score of 4-1. Though Drew Mayer scored the only goal of the game for the Tornado, Amarillo picked up markers in the final stages of every period to help pad their lead. TJ Sherman scored at 19:53 of the first, Brady Ferguson lit the lamp at 19:01 of the second, and with the game out of reach, Ryan Cole powered home his second goal of the playoffs at 18:51 of the third. Hunter Leisner was absoultely peppered in Game 1, stopping 50 of 54 shots on goal.

Though the Bulls scored very late in every period, Hampus Gustafsson was the first one in the board for the Bulls with five minutes to play in the first period. Former Tornado defenseman Tyler Rostenkowski took a slapshot from the point on a bouncing puck. Leisner made the stop, though Gustafsson crashed the net hard as Leisner was unable to corral the loose puck. Gustafsson, whose older brother, John, also played for Amarillo, powered home the rebound and gave the Bulls a 1-0 lead.

Later in the first, and with time winding down, Tyler Deresky ripped a shot from the right wing that rang off the cross bar. The puck came out to the left circle for Sherman, whose shot also drew iron. However, it deflected off the back of Leisner back over the goal line before the Tornado could clear it away, and Sherman got his third goal of the playoffs. 

The Tornado recovered with a few strong shifts to start the second period, and picked up its first power-play with a little more than six minutes gone by. The Tornado had the second-best power-play in the league in the regular season, and showed why as Mayer cleaned up a rebound on a Justin Greenberg shot to cut the Amarillo lead in half.

Unfortunately for the Tornado, however, that was as close as the team would get. Late in the second, Jason Eddy laid a huge hit on Gustafsson, but was whistled for elbowing and was given a two-minute minor. He wouldn't have to serve all two minutes, however, as Ferguson ended up on the doorstep for his third goal of the playoffs, giving Amarillo a 3-1 lead as both teams headed into the third period. Cole's late third-period goal was also on a rebound, as Amarillo fired pucks on net from all angles the entire game.

Both teams are back in action Friday night at 7:05 for Game 2 of the series, once again in Amarillo.