Jackman gets into the flow (and the net)

Ducks defenseman Ric Jackman, a former first-round draft choice who had never been in a playoff game, got the nod to replace suspended Chris Pronger in the lineup Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

“Jackman has more offense on his side,” Coach Randy Carlyle said when asked before the game about deciding between Jackman and Aaron Rome to fill in for Pronger.

And Jackman made his presence felt in a big way in the first period of the Ducks’ 5-3 victory over Detroit.

With the score tied at 1-1, the Ducks had the game’s first power play when Detroit was called for too many men on the ice. Over the first three games of the series, the Ducks were 0 for 16 with a man advantage, but they ended that drought when Jackman scored at 11:46 to give the Ducks a 2-1 lead.

The Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf picked up an assist on the goal. But it was Jackman who jumped all over a loose puck in the high-slot and beat Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek, who was screened on the play by the Ducks’ Dustin Penner.

Jackman, who had been sidelined throughout the playoffs because of back spasms, was ready.

“It gets a little frustrating when you don’t play,” said Jackman, who played in 24 games for the Ducks after he was acquired in a January trade from the Florida Panthers.

“But you know, you work hard and stay prepared. You work out in the gym. Stuff happens. Be ready when your number is called.”

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Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom knows the exact moment when he has gotten under a goalie’s skin.

“Yeah,” he said. “You get speared or hacked or punched in the head.”

Holmstrom has received his share of blows in these Western Conference finals, but the gritty Red Wings forward has gotten to the Ducks.

Holmstrom accounted for the game-winning goal in Game 1 and in Game 3 had two goals and an assist. Holmstrom also needed 13 stitches to close cuts on his forehead when he was hit by Pronger and Rob Niedermayer, which resulted in Pronger’s one-game suspension.

“He doesn’t fight, which is frustrating because sometimes you just want to drop the gloves,” Ducks defenseman Sean O’Donnell said of Holmstrom. “But he does his job. He’s every effective at what he does.

“The fact that he’s so good at what he does and that he gets under your skin, it makes it doubly annoying because he’s such an effective player.”

Holmstrom, 34, had a career-high 30 goals this season, his 10th with the Red Wings.

While growing up in Sweden, he dreamed of rushing up and down the ice until he realized he wasn’t the fleetest skater. So Holmstrom took to creating havoc in front of the net and former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman helped him excel at that.

“I liked to go to the net and I guess Scotty, he was even more into it,” Holmstrom said. “He wouldn’t even let me leave the net.”

Holmstrom is also known to chirp away at opposing players. But it’s his grunt work that makes the most noise.

“There’s a lot of guys that talk out there,” O’Donnell said. “But when you’re as effective as he is, as physical as he is, and you talk, it can get pretty annoying.”

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Jackman wasn’t the only lineup change by the Ducks, who inserted rookie Ryan Carter in place of Ryan Shannon on the fourth line. Carter, a 6-foot-1 forward, skated with Shawn Thornton and Brad May.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com

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