Todd Marchant leads Ducks to victory

Todd Marchant hadn’t scored in such a long time that even Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle wondered what got into his defensive forward on Tuesday night.

“I guess he must have fueled up on chicken wings last night,” Carlyle said with a wink regarding Marchant, the Buffalo-area native who marked his homecoming with a key goal in a 3-2 win over the Sabres.

Not so fast, said a grinning Marchant, who was eyeing the pizza and wings spread across the table in the Ducks locker room after the game.

“I can hardly wait to get into them,” Marchant said.

Marchant scored the go-ahead goal on a short-handed rush midway through the second period to end a 43-game goal drought. Mike Brown added an insurance goal late in the period, while Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 34 saves to keep the Ducks in the mix of a tightly contested Western Conference playoff race.

Ales Kotalik had a goal and assist and Paul Gaustad scored for a Sabres team playing its first game without starting goaltender Ryan Miller, who is out indefinitely after spraining his left ankle in a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers last weekend.

Patrick Lalime didn’t have a strong game in his first start since a 3-2 loss at the Ducks on Feb. 2. Lalime, who made 18 saves, dropped to 2-8-1 and hasn’t won since Dec. 13.

It didn’t help that the first shot he faced went in only 70 seconds into the game, when Teemu Selanne scored on a backhander after waltzing in alone following defenseman Toni Lydman’s turnover.

The Ducks won their second straight after opening a season-long six-game trip with a 5-2 loss at Detroit last week.

“I said earlier that this is going to be the turning point in our season and I’m expecting a lot,” Selanne said. “I have 100% trust in this team and I’m sure we’re on the right track.”