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Final Score: Montreal 4 - Anaheim 3

Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - Tomas Plekanec fired the game-winning wrister in the shootout, and the Montreal Canadiens used a late surge in regulation and a controversial goal in the shootout to edge the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, at Honda Center.

The Habs trailed, 1-0, in the shootout heading into the final shooter, and Brian Gionta fired a wrist shot in between the blocker pad and stick of Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller. Hiller drifted backward toward the net and looked to find the puck, inadvertently knocking it into the net for a goal.

"The shootout goal was not my decision," said Montreal's Andrei Markov. "The referee decided to score the goal, and we're happy right now with the two points."

The officials reviewed the tally, as the whistle had not been blown, and confirmed the call on the ice. After James Wisniewski could not score for the Ducks in the fourth round, Plekanec fired a wrister past Hiller's glove for the game-winner.

"I thought Hiller had it," said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer. "Then, once he goes to relax and thinks the play is over, it drops out. It's unfortunate, but obviously we shouldn't be in that position either."

Plekanec added a breakaway goal in the second period for the Habs, who responded from a 3-0 deficit and scored twice in the final 1:50 of regulation. Gionta and Markov also scored in the team's third win in four games.

"We had a good power play," Plekanec said. "We had good chances, and we put the puck in the net. We had a lot of shots in the first period, but they scored the first goal and then they were up two -- it was tough to be losing by three goals."

Jaroslav Halak stopped all 21 shots he faced after replacing Carey Price, who gave up three goals on 11 shots in the first period.

Corey Perry, Lubomir Visnovsky and Niedermayer tallied for the Ducks, who have lost all three of their games since the Olympic break. Hiller stopped 40 shots in a hard-luck defeat.

"With the way we played early in the game, we should have been able to get these two points tonight," Niedermayer said. "They just hung around and waited for a couple of mistakes. They took advantage of it. It's pretty disappointing right now."

Montreal trailed, 3-1, in the final two minutes but managed to tie the score. First was Gionta, who grabbed an errant Anaheim pass in the offensive zone, skated to the slot and ripped a snap shot past Hiller with 1:50 to play.

The Canadiens then pulled Halak for an extra attacker, and the strategy paid off. Benoit Pouliot grabbed the puck near the right side board and gave it to Scott Gomez, who sent it back to Pouliot. Pouliot quickly dished it to Markov out in front, and Markov snuck it underneath the crossbar with 10.7 ticks left to tie it.

Perry staked the Ducks to a 1-0 lead 8:54 into the game, and Visnovsky made it 2-0 when he took a puck at center ice, skated all the way deep into the slot and fired the puck between Price's legs exactly four minutes later.

With 53 seconds remaining in the opening frame, Niedermayer gave Anaheim what seemed to be a comfortable lead at 3-0.

Plekanec notched the only goal of the middle stanza on a breakaway 7:48 in, firing a forehand shot into the top left corner.