ANAHEIM, Calif. -- In mid-December, the Anaheim Ducks were the NHL's worst team. Now, they share first place in their division with a club that won two of the past four Stanley Cups.

Jakob Silfverberg scored the only shootout goal to give the Ducks a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night in front of 15,273 at the Honda Center.

The Ducks (35-19-8) used their ninth consecutive victory to move into a first-place tie in the Pacific Division with the Los Angeles Kings. Corey Perry and Jamie McGinn scored in regulation for Anaheim, while John Gibson made 25 saves.

"They pushed us right to the limit," Perry said of the Canadiens. "They played with a lot of emotion. They played hard and they played quick. But we found a way."

Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk scored twice while Mike Condon made 33 saves, three fewer than his season high. However, the Canadiens sustained their sixth loss in nine games as part of a midseason collapse.

Montreal (30-28-6) began the season with a club-record nine successive wins and had the NHL's best record at 19-4-3 on Dec. 1. Since then, the Canadiens have compiled the league's worst record: 11-24-3.

Anaheim is moving in the opposite direction. After starting the season with nine losses in their first 10 games, the Ducks went into the Christmas break last in points, overall goals and power-play goals. But since Dec. 27, Anaheim owns a league-best 23-4-2 record while scoring 90 goals and succeeding in 28.9 percent of their power plays.

"We dug ourselves a hole early," Perry said. "It's nice to see where we've come, but at the end of the day, we still have 20 games or whatever it is left. We have to keep pushing."

Silfverberg, Anaheim's second shooter, converted a wrist shot under the crossbar for his fourth shootout goal in six attempts.

Galchenyuk and Max Pacioretty had chances to tie or put Montreal ahead in the shootout. However, Galchenyuk's attempt rolled off his stick, and then Gibson blocked Pacioretty's backhand to secure the win.

"It was such a close game that could've gone either way," Galchenyuk said. "It's unfortunate we ended up on the losing end. But we showed up, competed and made plays. It was fun."

Galchenyuk gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead 56 seconds into the final period with a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle. Galchenyuk's 19th goal elicited chants of "Go, Habs, Go" from the Canadian expatriates in attendance.

"If we had beared down," Pacioretty said, "we could've had two points."

However, Perry used his fourth goal in two games and his 27th of the season to tie the score on a power play with 10:51 left in regulation.

Condon stopped Cam Fowler's slap shot from the left circle, but David Perron secured the rebound near the left post and passed through the crease to Perry, who converted inside the right post.

Galchenyuk gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead 4:25 into the second period. Andrei Markov passed from the left boards at the blue line to Galchenyuk, who dragged a rising wrist shot from the right circle into the upper-right corner of the net.

Eleven minutes later, McGinn, acquired Monday from the Buffalo Sabres, tied the score in his first game with Anaheim. After deflecting Hampus Lindholm's wrist shot from the left point off Condon's right arm, McGinn flicked the rebound past Condon at 14:28 for his 15th goal.

NOTES: The Canadiens scratched D Victor Bartley, LW Mike Brown and LW Lucas Lessio. ... Montreal D Morgan Ellis made his NHL debut. ... Canadiens competing in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be G Carey Price (Canada), LW Max Pacioretty (United States), D Andrei Markov (Russia) and C Tomas Plekanec (Czech Republic). ... The Ducks scratched D Simon Despres and D Korbinian Holzer. ... Anaheim C Shawn Horcoff practiced Tuesday for the first time since being suspended 20 games Jan. 26 for using a performance-enhancing drug. Horcoff is eligible to return March 11. ... Ducks competing in the World Cup of Hockey will be C Ryan Getzlaf (Canada), C Ryan Kesler (United States), D Sami Vatanen (Finland), G Frederik Anderson (Europe) and G John Gibson (North America). ... Anaheim C Brandon Pirri, acquired from the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline, will be examined by team doctors before being allowed to skate. Pirri has not played since injuring his right ankle Feb. 13 against the Nashville Predators.