Coach keeping it real

Words of praise do not flow freely from the mouth of Randy Carlyle. In that sense, he is like many other NHL coaches.

Consecutive home victories over the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild have the Ducks at 5-0-2 after seven games, drawing some hard-earned praise from their second-year leader.

The Ducks are the only team in the Western Conference without a regulation loss, both defeats coming in shootouts. The Buffalo Sabres remain the league’s only unbeaten team.

Carlyle said the Ducks’ record “doesn’t mean anything other than our players have worked extremely hard to get to where we’re at. And we’re going to have to continue to improve as a team to have success.”

The Ducks are doing many things well. They’re third in the league in the power play at 25% and eighth in penalty killing at 88.4%. In their five victories, they’ve given up only six goals.

Benefiting from the stout defense, goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has a 1.76 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage ranking fourth in the NHL.

“We got where we are because our players have done a lot of the little things,” Carlyle said. “They’ve committed to their game, their work ethic has been strong.

“I think the one thing that you’ll notice is that since the better part of last year, they’ve become a team.”

The Ducks’ hot start has backed up their high expectations and reinforced their new mind-set.

“Even what was supposed to be a big emotional win over Detroit, to us it was just another win,” forward Teemu Selanne said. “In the past, it would have been, ‘Wow, we beat Detroit.’ Now we expect to win that game.”

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Chris Kunitz grew up in Canada, but he has kept a close eye on the Detroit Tigers’ run to the World Series.

Kunitz attended Ferris State in Michigan and made several pilgrimages to Comerica Park in Detroit. In those days, the Tigers didn’t provide much entertainment.

“I’ve been to about 10 ballgames,” the Ducks’ left wing said. “I used to have a hat. It got old and I threw it away. I was wearing it when they weren’t so good.”

Kunitz said he was first introduced to the Tigers by a roommate. “I’m more a fair-weather fan,” he said. “I’m on the bandwagon.”

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Forward Rob Niedermayer was excused from practice in what Carlyle termed a “maintenance” day in order to rest and prepare for today’s game against the Kings.

“Through the course of a season, bumps and bruises do get to you,” Carlyle said.

Niedermayer picked up his third assist Friday on Sean O’Donnell’s eventual game-winning goal against Minnesota and is a plus-2 during his shifts after seven games.

eric.stephens@latimes.com