Pronger unhappy with officials

Speaking in detail for the first time since his Game 4 suspension for hitting Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom in the head, Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger on Friday gave his side of the play in question and expressed his displeasure at the officiating in these Western Conference finals.

Reached late Friday evening, Pronger said that the hard check he delivered on Holmstrom along the boards midway through Game 3 was a play “that happens a thousand times throughout the season.”

It took 13 stitches to close two cuts to Holmstrom’s forehead -- the result of the tag-team hit by Pronger and Rob Niedermayer that drove the winger’s head into the glass. Niedermayer received a major boarding penalty, resulting in an automatic ejection.

The league reviewed the hit and did not punish Niedermayer further. But Pronger, who wasn’t penalized on the play, was suspended for one game.

“It’s a nothing play if Robbie doesn’t hit him,” Pronger said, stressing that he did not intentionally hit Holmstrom in the head. The contact, he said, was partly because he is 6-foot-6 and Holmstrom is 6-foot-1.

“Of course I’m going to hit him in the head,” Pronger said. “He’s quite a bit shorter than me. It’s just law of physics.”

Pronger compared the hit to one in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals in which Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson came up on Buffalo defenseman Henrik Tallinder from behind. Alfredsson was not punished.

Earlier Friday, Pronger was a guest on the “Roggin and Simers Squared” radio show in Los Angeles and told Fred Roggin he suspects the suspension happened because of “members in the media pressuring the league.”

“The league should make its own calls, not be pressured into anything by the media, and more to the point, the Canadian media,” he said. Pronger was upset over the officiating in the series, particularly in the Ducks’ 5-3 Game 4 victory.

“I think inconsistency in the refereeing has been there all season, let alone in the playoffs,” Pronger said. “All you’ve got to do is look at our games against Detroit. You could bring in other series. The referees have been very inconsistent from series to series, from game to game and from team to team. As you witnessed, [Thursday] night was an absolute joke.

“But that’s neither here nor there. It’s over with. I just hope going forward we’re going to be on a level playing field.”

Pronger said he couldn’t watch much of Game 4.

“I’m not real big on watching games at the best of times,” he said. “And then especially when it’s Game 4 of the conference finals and you’re not playing and you’re suspended.”

At a media gathering in the team’s hotel Friday, Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle said he isn’t going to tell Pronger to rein in his physical play.

“The last thing in the world that I think a player of that caliber needs is a coach trying to lay out the game plan,” Carlyle said. “He’s lived this game.... And I think it’s important that you leave the player his space.”

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eric.stephens@latimes.com