Early Barrage Too Much for Ducks : Hockey: The Canucks take a 4-0 lead in the first period and hold on, 4-3.

If the Mighty Ducks told goalie Ron Tugnutt he could carry his new cellular phone out and put it on top of the net with his water bottle, he probably would be tempted.

He and his wife, Lisa, are expecting their first child any day, and Tugnutt is beside himself with excitement and worry. The phone is brand new, has one purpose, and has never rung.

“If this phone rings, my equipment comes off,” Tugnutt said.

It didn’t ring Sunday, when Tugnutt lasted only one period in the Ducks’ 4-3 loss to Vancouver before a sellout crowd of 17,174 at Anaheim Arena.

Tugnutt gave up a goal only nine seconds into the game on Trevor Linden’s shot from the blue line and fell behind, 4-0, after the Canucks added three power-play goals in the first.

Guy Hebert replaced Tugnutt to start the second period and the Ducks scored three goals to cut the lead to one, but never could catch up despite Garry Valk’s second-period breakaway chance and Peter Douris’ spin-around shot from the slot that missed wide by inches in the final seconds of the game.

The Ducks erased a 3-0 deficit to beat Hartford by 6-3 on Friday, but they couldn’t come all the way back this time.

Tugnutt, who entrusted the phone to support staff during the game, stood clutching it while waiting to leave after the game was over.

“This being our first, it’s very distracting,” he said. “I find myself thinking about it quite a bit, carrying a phone around wherever I go. This is definitely a big, big moment in my life.”

It’s so big that the Ducks have told Tugnutt he does not have to make a two-game trip to Toronto and Detroit this week before the All-Star break.

“I would like to have gone and played, but I think that’s very nice of them to think about Ron Tugnutt and his family life first,” he said. “She was told three or four days ago it could happen any day. Since then I can’t get my mind off it, and I think everybody can understand it. It’s a big, big time in my life. We’re pretty excited.”

He was not excited about the first goal and was upset that the arena lights were not fully on yet.

“But there’s no excuse for it, I should have had it,” he said.

Right from the start, the first period was a disaster for the Ducks.

It was the second game in a row they have given up a goal in the first 30 seconds. And the score was 2-0 after Geoff Courtnall put back a rebound from the slot at 10:27 when the Ducks failed to clear the rebound.

It got uglier, with the Canucks scoring on a giveaway at 15:17 when Bob Corkum lost the puck in his own end and Bobby Dollas couldn’t recover it, leaving Vancouver with a two-on-one at short range. Courtnall put the puck in the net for his second power-play goal of the game.

But the Ducks didn’t escape the first period trailing by only three goals. With 15 seconds left, Vancouver’s Dave Babych dumped the puck in off the boards, and no Ducks chased it. Pavel Bure picked it up in the right circle and fired. Tugnutt made the initial stop, but the puck bounced in off of Duck defenseman Alexei Kasatonov’s skate and the Ducks went in trailing, 4-0.

Switching ends after the intermission somehow changed the Ducks’ fortunes. Tugnutt replaced Hebert in a shaky outing against San Jose two games ago, and this time the roles were reversed.

Corkum, Troy Loney and Joe Sacco scored in the second period, cutting the lead to 4-3, but the Ducks got no closer.

“I think together Guy and I have both let in some weak goals,” Tugnutt said. “But we haven’t seemed to be killing penalties as well lately.”

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Duck Notes

Left wing Stu Grimson was scratched after suffering a cut hand during the morning skate. . . . Forward Steven King played after sitting out six games because of a sprained left shoulder.