Ducks chatter before Game 5 vs. Nashville

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Assorted leftover notes and quotes from a brief visit on Thursday to the Ducks’ HQ:

Rookie defenseman Cam Fowler on Teemu Selanne‘s tough-love words after the Ducks’ Game 3 loss at Nashville, words we can’t use here, not even in this free-flowing blog.

‘We know that he is a great guy, and he’s always got a smile on his face,’ Fowler said. ‘He’s the most intense competitor that I’ve ever been around. We needed somebody to step up and say something. It wasn’t just him, but he definitely had a lot to say to us and when somebody like that speaks up, everyone around just stops what they’re doing and listens to what he says.

‘I think it was good for us and got us headed into the right direction going into that game after that.’

The foundation for Fowler’s poise in the playoffs -- at age 19, no less -- comes from highly charged, high-level junior tournaments at the international level. In the first four playoff games against the Predators, he has four points and is a plus-three.

‘I’ve been fortunate to play in some big games before I got here, some games where I had the butterflies going,’ Fowler said. ‘It’s definitely a learning curve, for me stepping in here. If you look at the games where I played earlier in the season, I think there’s a huge difference with my approach and my mindset and the way I play now, compared to then.’

There were a lot of questions being asked about the ageless Selanne. Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle had a funny line about the end of his own playing career. His final season was with the Winnipeg Jets in the 1992-93 season.

‘The general manager decided that I wasn’t going to play anymore, so I went on a farewell tour but I was the only one that knew it,’ he said.

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-- Lisa Dillman