Detroit Red Wings Hockey Team

Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller wasn't sure how his body and mind would stand up to more than 100 minutes of tense, Tomas-Holmstrom-in-your-face playoff hockey Sunday at Detroit. Two people who know him well had no qualms at all. "There was not even an ounce of doubt in my mind," said Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who lost his starting job to Hiller late this season. "I know Jonas is ready. Was ready. He's put in the work that he needed to do. His technical game is as strong as anybody in the league.

Tinker to Evers to . . . Lidstrom? On the same field where Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Frank Chance formed a double-play combination that was immortalized in poetry, in the very place the Chicago Cubs have caused their fans a century of heartbreak, an NHL rink sat Wednesday under bright but frigid sunshine.

Never had Jonas Hiller stood in goal for so long or faced 62 shots, each carrying the potential to swing the Ducks' second-round playoff series prohibitively toward the Red Wings. Back home in the Swiss League, playoff games that are tied after one overtime are settled by shootouts. Not so in the NHL. So before Sunday's first overtime -- and then the second and third -- he drank water to stay hydrated, ate bananas for energy and stayed calm.

As a coach you sometimes weigh what you see and what your gut tells you and make risky decisions. Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle made several such moves Sunday when he shifted a struggling Bobby Ryan to the second line and benched Erik Christensen and George Parros in favor of two forwards who hadn't played in a while. Petteri Nokelainen last played for the Ducks two weeks ago. Josh Green last played in the NHL in the 2006-07 season.

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.

Detroit forward Dan Cleary offered a simple summation of the Ducks' strategy in the teams' second-round playoff series. "Strong push, and then they hold," Cleary said. It's more like make a strong push and then leave Jonas Hiller to face more dangerous shots during crunch time than many goalies see in a week. The Ducks have been outshot in each of their nine playoff games and by 375-249 overall, including 145-93 by Detroit.

The debate continued about the Ducks' 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, with both sides staking out expected ground. The Red Wings' Marian Hossa poked in a rebound, only to have it waved off with a minute left. Replays indicated that referee Brad Watson blew his whistle as Hossa touched the puck. Point: "He deemed it was frozen," Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said. "Even if he doesn't blow the whistle, if he deemed it was frozen in his mind, the play is dead. He got it right."

Let's allow defenseman James Wisniewski to sum up the Ducks' lame performance in a 4-1 loss to the Red Wings, a game that meant so much but inspired so little emotion from a team that once made its living on its heart and grit. "We were just standing still, not moving our feet, not moving the puck; we had no energy, we weren't finishing any checks, turning the puck over," Wisniewski said. That tells the tale.

His last name isn't Helmstrom or Helmppula, so Detroit center Darren Helm flies under the radar on a team loaded with superstars from Sweden and Finland. But the Red Wings have always based their success as much on grit as skill, and with Kris Draper of "Grind Line" fame out because of an undisclosed injury, Helm has stepped in capably.

Indeed, the benefit of having so many capable defensemen could not have been better illustrated by the Detroit Red Wings on Monday before and after practice on the eve of Game 6 in their second-round series with the Ducks. Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski had his first full practice, but standout rookie defenseman Jonathan Ericsson of Sweden didn't take part because of an injured right foot, having taken a shot off it in the first period of Sunday's Game 5 win.