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Red Wings are cool as ice after Game 2 loss

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This just in . . .

The Detroit Red Wings have decided not to roll over and play dead following a 4-3 triple-overtime loss to the Ducks on Sunday, which left the Stanley Cup playoff series tied, 1-1.

Defenseman Chris Chelios was chipper, not chippy, on Monday. Center Pavel Datsyuk offered a single-minded stump speech. And Coach Mike Babcock was tossing out “What, me worry?” comments.

That the Red Wings, seeded second in the Western Conference, had lost the home-ice advantage to the eighth-seeded Ducks appeared to cause little consternation.

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“We had a five-hour flight, which gave us the opportunity for consideration,” Babcock said. “We went through the tape and decided we were fine.”

Babcock, a bottom-line guy, said, “They could be up 2-0 and we could be up 2-0.”

Still, that wasn’t to say the Red Wings have been on top of their game.

They flung 62 shots at Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller and only three went into the net and onto the scoreboard.

“We have to be much harder on him,” Babcock said. “I don’t think lobbing shots into his glove is making it hard.”

Enter Datsyuk, who centers a line that combined for 86 goals this season -- Datsyuk (32), Marian Hossa (40) and Tomas Holmstrom (14). That the trio has been shut out thus far, with Ducks center Todd Marchant leading the resistance, didn’t seem to bother Datsyuk.

“We had chances. We need to score,” Datsyuk said.

Asked whether the Ducks were doing anything different, he said, “It’s similar to other teams, but they do better. But we had chances. We need to score.”

And, asked about Marchant’s shadowing of him, Datsyuk said, “Uh, we need to score. We had chances. We need to score.”

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A key player who might have helped in that area, defenseman Brian Rafalski, will not be available because of an unspecified “upper-body injury,” Babcock said. Rafalski had 10 goals and 59 points during the regular season.

That will leave the 47-year-old Chelios in the lineup. He played only 6 minutes 50 seconds Sunday, and didn’t get off the bench in overtime.

“It has nothing to do with that now,” Chelios said when asked about his performance Sunday. “I’m just filling in for Raffy for the time being and doing my best not to get noticed and fit in.”

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Marchant march

The Ducks’ Teemu Selanne couldn’t say “huge” often enough when asked about Marchant’s overtime goal in Game 3.

Marchant, 35, has six playoff goals in three seasons with the Ducks. The Ducks have a 4-1 record in those games.

“It was huge,” the 38-year-old Selanne said. “Obviously, his main job isn’t to score goals. He is a workhorse in so many other areas. The goal was unbelievably huge. When you get a goal from guys who don’t normally score, it’s a huge bonus.”

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Besides, Selanne said, “It may be a young man’s game, but us old guys still have something to say about it.”

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Ryan demoted

Ducks rookie forward Bobby Ryan was dropped down to the second line during Sunday’s game, a just-add-water critique of his play by Coach Randy Carlyle.

“He needs to win battles along the wall for the puck,” Carlyle said. “I thought he was swimming at times, losing his checks. He didn’t really stay with his pressure and fell down a few times. All that kind of stuff.”

But, Carlyle said, “It’s unrealistic for us to continue to expect that he is going to play 60 games in a row at the level he has played the previous 59.”

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Playoff intensity

Carlyle’s interest in discussing goaltender Hiller seems on par with dissecting the finer points of macrame.

Asked about Hiller’s development during Monday’s news conference, Carlyle replied, “For the 150th time? How many times am I going to talk about Jonas Hiller?”

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How about the Jonas Brothers, then?

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chris.foster@latimes.com

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