Ducks’ Victory a First : Hockey: They build 4-0 lead and hang on behind Tugnutt to defeat Oilers, 4-3.

And the answer to the future trivia question is . . . the Edmonton Oilers.

The Mighty Ducks claimed their first victim Wednesday, beating the Oilers, 4-3, in front of 15,570 at Anaheim Arena for the first victory in the expansion team’s brief history.

“Our players worked their butts off and deserved to win,” Coach Ron Wilson said. “Our team has bounced back from that disastrous opening night. It shows they have a lot of courage.”

The crowd stood and cheered at the one-minute warning, thundered its approval at goaltender Ron Tugnutt’s final clutch saves and at every clearing pass as Edmonton tried desperately to force overtime. Then they counted off the final seconds with a playoff roar until the zero at the beginning of the Ducks’ franchise record was gone.

The Ducks threatened to blow out the Oilers, taking a 4-0 lead before Edmonton scored, but it was tense in the final seconds as the Oilers rallied.

Tugnutt--who was Edmonton’s backup goalie last season and was wearing an old Oiler mask whose design was hidden by white tape--fended off the Oilers’ last frantic attempts, making two saves after a faceoff in his own end with 51.4 seconds to play.

“It got a little tense there at the end,” Tugnutt said.

It took three games for the Ducks to win, just as it did their expansion companion, the Florida Panthers, and just as it did for San Jose two years ago. Last season, Ottawa and Tampa Bay won their opening games.

The Ducks still led, 4-1, after two periods. But the Oilers, realizing their dire circumstances, came out in the third period and cut their deficit to 4-2 on a goal by Vladimir Vujtek at 1:35 of the third.

The Ducks’ grip was loosened further when defenseman Alexei Kasatonov was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for high-sticking Shayne Corson as Corson skated past the Ducks’ net at 7:17 of the third.

The Oilers trimmed the lead to 4-3 1 1/2 minutes into the five-minute power play, when Corson slid a pass across the slot to an open Zdeno Ciger, who scored at 8:51.

Edmonton still had 3 1/2 minutes left in its power play, but the Ducks killed it and hung on.

“I was a little disappointed in the way we finished,” Wilson said.

The victory came against a team that once was the most dominating in hockey when Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Jari Kurri played in Edmonton, but is now little above the level of an expansion team. The Oilers started the season with victories in their first two games, but they won only 26 all last season.

Things went the Ducks’ way almost from the opening faceoff. Only 24 seconds into the game, they went on a power play after defenseman Ian Herbers was called for hooking Joe Sacco as the fast-skating Sacco threatened to break away.

Thirty seconds into the power play--and still less than a minute into the game--Troy Loney swept in a rebound from in front of the net after defenseman Sean Hill’s slap shot from the right point caromed off goaltender Bill Ranford.

Steven King put the Ducks ahead, 2-0, when he shook a defender, skated into the slot and swept the puck past Ranford.

Sacco gave the Ducks a 3-0 lead with 29 seconds left in the period, taking a pass in the right circle from Myles O’Connor and beating Ranford on his glove side.

The Ducks’ stretched the lead to 4-0 when defenseman Bill Houlder scored at 7:14 of the second period after taking a perfect pass in the slot from right wing Terry Yake, who faked a shot and then curled around a fallen defender to make the pass.