Chilled Duck

Now how will the Ducks deal with this loss?

The NHL on Wednesday suspended Chris Pronger for one game for his hit on Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom on Tuesday night, forcing the defenseman to sit out Game 4 of the Western Conference finals tonight at the Honda Center.

It has become a tumultuous 72-hour period for the Ducks. On Monday, they lost scoring forward Chris Kunitz for the remainder of the playoffs because of a broken right hand. On Tuesday, they were embarrassed by the Red Wings, 5-0, in Game 3.

And now the Ducks, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, will play a crucial home game without perhaps their best player. Pronger leads them in playoff scoring with three goals and 12 points.

Teammate Scott Niedermayer, who like Pronger is a finalist for the Norris Trophy for the league’s best defenseman, was asked to consider the prospect of losing Pronger.

“Then we go out there with the 20 guys that are dressed. Go out and play as a team, play as well as we can,” Niedermayer said. “Is there any other choice?”

Pronger left the arena without comment shortly after his noon hearing with Colin Campbell, the league’s chief disciplinarian.

Ducks General Manager Brian Burke, who was Campbell’s predecessor, defended Pronger but ultimately accepted the decision.

“We disagree completely with Colin Campbell’s decision here,” Burke said. “But we respect the process. If there’s a guy on the planet that understands the difficulty of Colin’s job, you’re looking at him. These things are not easy.”

Pronger, whose hit on Holmstrom came midway through the second period with the Ducks trailing, 4-0, was not penalized at the time, even though he had raced up from behind and drove the winger’s head into the glass at nearly the same instant that Rob Niedermayer, from another direction, delivered a crushing check into the boards.

The impact ripped away Holmstrom’s helmet and left the veteran dazed and bleeding.

Niedermayer, who immediately received a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct, which carries an automatic ejection, was not further penalized Wednesday.

Burke said he saw the hit from various views, and maintains Pronger did nothing wrong.

“If you watch some of the other views, it looks like a dangerous high hit,” he said. “But from the end zone view, I think it shows best that Chris Pronger went to hit Tomas Holmstrom at a 45-degree angle to the boards.

“At no point is Holmstrom facing the boards. At no point is Chris delivering a hit toward the boards, a dangerous hit. He’s coming in to finish a check at a 45-degree angle. Rob Niedermayer steps into the player, pins him, [and] you get a high finish.”

Holmstrom, who scored two goals and had an assist in the game, needed 13 stitches to close two cuts to his forehead. After laying on the ice for several minutes after the double hit, he left the game but was back to start the third period.

On Wednesday, he was asked if he had seen the video of the double hit.

“No, I haven’t looked at it,” said Holmstrom, whose forehead was bruised. “I don’t want to see it. It’s happened. What can you do? Just go forward.”

Pronger has been suspended five times before, but never in the playoffs. The most recent incident was in March 2004, when he sat out one game for a kicking incident. And in November 1995, he was suspended for four games and fined $1,000 for slashing.

Ducks officials said the defenseman was furious when he left the building.

“He’s sour about it,” Burke said. “That’s why he’s not talking to you guys. The league doesn’t like us swearing.”

So now, at the top of a long list of things the Ducks need to fix after their worst playoff loss is filling a gigantic hole on the blue line.

Already without much depth at the position, they’ll probably turn to Ric Jackman, who has never been in a playoff game, played in only 31 games this season and is only recently recovered from back spasms that kept him out for three weeks.

Pronger is a former Norris winner who is averaging more than 31 minutes of playing time, the most of any skater in this postseason.

Said defenseman Sean O’Donnell: “I think it’s up to us to all kind of elevate our game and bridge the gap until we get Chris back after a game.”

The Ducks’ problems don’t stop at the blue line, though. Among them:

* Lack of discipline. They’ve been short-handed 20 times in three games and Detroit benefited, scoring five power-play goals. In Game 3, the Ducks took eight consecutive penalties and had to kill off nine power plays.

Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said they have to stay out of the penalty box but shouldn’t abandon their aggressive forechecking style.

“We have an identity that we built all year,” he said. “We’re a tough team to play against. So we know we have to be careful ... but we still have to play with an edge. I love when our team plays with an edge. That’s when we’re at our best.”

* An invisible Teemu Selanne. The Ducks’ leading scorer this season has not registered a point in his last four playoff games. Overall, he has only three goals and three assists.

“He seems to be a guy that’s struggling to find the net,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “He’s carrying that [weight] because he’s an emotional guy. He feels that he’s not playing to the level which he’s capable of.”

Selanne admitted he isn’t very confident at the moment.

“Obviously, we can do things better, including myself,” he said. “I’m missing all my shots when I have a chance. And obviously, I haven’t got so many. Got to be better.”

* Matchups. Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock split up Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg over two lines Tuesday to create more offense in five-on-five situations. The two lines accounted for four of the five goals.

“Obviously, they’re tremendously offensively talented players,” Scott Niedermayer said. “Last night, we had breakdowns in different spots, in the neutral zone, in our end. You can’t have that happen when you’re playing players like that.”

The Ducks played 16 regular season games without Pronger because of injuries. Their record without him: 6-7-3.

But Pronger will be back for Game 5 on Sunday in Detroit. Whether the Ducks will have tied the series or will be facing elimination is up to his teammates.

“We need to win tomorrow. Guys realize that,” O’Donnell said. “Everybody talks about momentum. It only matters on off days. Once that puck drops, it’s a whole new game.”

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.

eric.stephens@latimes.com