sjbarracuda.com photo: The San Jose Barracuda’s Dan O’Regan is on his backside as the Grand Rapid Griffiths take the Barracuda out of their game winning game one 3-1 at SAP Center on Saturday night

By: Eric He

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Barracuda marched into uncharted territory on Saturday night, playing their first game in the conference finals in franchise history — but they’ve now surrendered home ice advantage after falling 3-1 to Grand Rapids.

The Barracuda played from behind all game. They managed just one fewer shot than the Griffins, but were 0-for-6 on the power play, failing to capitalize on chances to close the gap.

They dug themselves a two-goal hole early. Mitch Callahan lit the lamp first for Grand Rapids less than seven minutes into the game, finishing off a pass from Eric Tangradi. Three minutes later, Ben Street converted the Griffins’ second goal on a jam play in front.

San Jose closed a 2-0 gap 41 seconds later courtesy of Kevin Labanc, but that would be the only Barracuda shot to find the back of the net.

Following a scoreless second period, Grand Rapids went back up by two goals midway through the third, when Kyle Criscuolo deflected in a shot by Street.

If the Barracuda want to advance to the Calder Cup, they’ll first have to reclaim home ice advantage, and that starts with a win on Sunday in Game 2 with a  5:00PM face off at SAP Center.