Rochester, NY (November 16, 2011)-- A defensive battle saw Iiro Tarkki make a season-high 41 saves, but the Crunch fell to Rochester, 3-2, at the Blue Cross Arena.

The Crunch were out-shot 14-3 in the opening frame, but thanks in large part to goaltender Iiro Tarkki, they were able to keep the Amerks off of the scoreboard and went into the first intermission even at 0-0. The Crunch's three shots were a season low for shots on goal during a period.

The Crunch took a 1-0 lead 3:10 into the second period when John Mitchell one-timed a Bryan Rodney pass past Rochester goalie David Leggio. Matt Kennedy picked up the secondary assist on the play.

Ten seconds later, Crunch center Peter Holland gave the Americans their second power play opportunity when he was called for tripping. The Crunch were able to kill the man-advantage, but 10 seconds after the penalty expired, Rochester tied the game with an even-strength goal from defenseman T.J. Brennan.

The Americans had 1:15 of power-play time carry over from the second period, but they only needed 29 seconds to go ahead 2-1. Left wing Colin Stuart's shot beat Tarkki top-shelf for the Americans' first power-play goal of the game.

Rochester's Paul Szczechura  was serving a two-minute delay of game minor when Holland scored a power-play goal to tie the game at 2-2, 3:39 into the third period. Holland's wrister beat Leggio as the Crunch got an extra advantage in the form of a delayed hooking penalty to Rochester's Brayden McNabb.

Marcus Foligno scored the Americans' second power-play goal of the night with 6:10 remaining in regulation. Mark Voakes drew Tarkki to the side and he couldn't recover quickly enough to stop Foligno's wrist shot from giving the Americans a 3-2 edge.
 
Crunchables: With Crunch captain Nate Guenin on recall in Anaheim, Mark Bell wore an 'A' tonight… points…Tarkki making his third consecutive start tonight…The Crunch are 6-1-0-1 when scoring the first goal of the game…The Crunch are 6-3-2-0 when scoring a power-play goal.