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Recap
Ducks 3, Avalanche 2
Associated Press

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Todd Marchant snapped a 70-game goal drought, Brandon McMillan got the go-ahead score during a four-minute power play with 8:37 remaining, and the Anaheim Ducks ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.

Ryan Getzlaf also scored and Dan Ellis made 22 saves in his second start for the Ducks since being acquired last Thursday in a trade that sent backup goalie Curtis McElhinney to Tampa Bay.

McElhinney had allowed 19 goals in four starts while filling in for first-time All-Star Jonas Hiller, who has been sidelined for six games because of lightheadedness after his 12-save shutout win over Edmonton.

Kevin Porter and David Jones scored for the Avalanche, which has lost 13-of-14 and sits next-to-last in the Western Conference. They have lost seven straight at Anaheim.

Marchant's goal, which came on his 48th shot of the season, was his first since March 17, 2010, against Chicago. It gave Anaheim a 2-1 lead at 17:51 of the second period.

The 17-year veteran center carried the puck into the Colorado zone and fed it to defenseman Luca Sbisa, who threw it back toward the slot from the right circle and celebrated with the rest of the Ducks after Marchant stuck out his stick and redirected his 186th career goal past Peter Budaj.

Jones tied it less than two minutes into the third, beating Ellis high to the glove side through a screen with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

But Colorado winger Brandon Yip cut Francois Beauchemin with an inadvertent high stick at 8:19 of the final period, and the Ducks cashed in as McMillan converted a rebound of Bobby Ryan's one-timer from the left circle with 56 seconds left on the power play.

In a game that featured three fights before the nine-minute mark, Colorado opened the scoring at 12:07 of the first when Jonas Holos dumped the puck into the right corner and Matt Duchene made a touch pass into the crease that Porter deftly redirected past Ellis' stick while skating past him.

Anaheim's Lubomir Visnovsky, who came in tied for third in points among defensemen, limped to the dressing room less than a minute before the first intermission with a twisted knee after slamming on the breaks to avoid a check by Ryan Stoa in the neutral zone. Visnovsky returned to the game during the second period and was on the ice for Getzlaf's goal.

On that play, Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson retrieved the puck behind his net, but the forechecking Ryan made him cough it up to Corey Perry, who fed Getzlaf in the slot for a short wrist shot that beat Budaj to the stick side at 1:43.

Colorado is 1-4 since the trade that brought Johnson - the first overall pick in the 2006 draft - and center Jay McClement from St. Louis. McClement has yet to record a point for his new team, extending his overall drought to 10 games. He has just one goal in his last 31 games - against the Avalanche, when his carom shot off the crossbar was upheld by video replay.

NOTES: Colorado coach Joe Sacco played for the Ducks during the franchise's first five seasons after he was claimed from Toronto in the 1993 expansion draft. ... RW Milan Hejduk and D Adam Foote are the only players left from Colorado's last Stanley Cup championship team in 2001. Foote missed his 10th straight game because of a leg injury. ... Colorado is 0-25-3 when scoring fewer than three goals. The Avs are 0-34-4 under those circumstances since Feb. 12, 2010, when Duchene scored twice and recently traded Craig Anderson made 31 saves against Phoenix in a 2-1 victory at Denver. ... Colorado's penalty-killing unit, which came in with the second-worst percentage in the NHL, has allowed 14 power-play goals in 49 chances over the last 12 games. The Avs were short-handed a season-high nine times during Saturday's 4-3 defeat in Los Angeles, giving up two power-play goals.


Three star selections
1st:   RYAN GETZLAF
2nd:   COREY PERRY
3rd:   BOBBY RYAN
Winning Goaltender
Dan Ellis

Losing Goaltender
Peter Budaj
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