HAMILTON – Leland Irving won a goaltender’s duel with Curtis Sanford on Friday night, as the Abbotsford Heat topped the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-1 in a shootout at Copps Coliseum.

Irving, who was coming off a shutout against the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, was once again superb, stopping 30 of 31 Bulldog shots.

His lone mistake of the evening came in the dying seconds of the first period. Just after a Heat power play had expired, Bulldogs forward Tom Pyatt poked the puck past defender Keith Seabrook. Irving raced out of his net to clear the loose puck, but Pyatt beat him to it, eluded a poke check, and swept the puck into the net with just three seconds left in opening frame.

Mikael Backlund knotted the score late in the second period on a play that he both started and finished. The Heat rookie made a smooth play to escape traffic out in front of his own net and spotted Brett Sutter with a left-wing outlet pass. Sutter carried the puck to centre before spotting a streaking Carsen Germyn just over the Bulldog blueline. Germyn drove wide left, taking the defender and Sanford with him, and then slid a slick pass to the hard-driving Backlund. Backlund deposited his fourth goal of the season with just 45 seconds left in the middle stanza.

Sanford, the former Vancouver Canucks backup, was impressive in the Hamilton net, as he stopped 34 of 35 Abbotsford shots directed his way. In the third period, he made point-blank stops on Backlund, Germyn, Kris Chucko and Jason Jaffray.

Irving was also sharp in the final frame, as he took a goal away with a nice pad save on Sergei Kostitsyn midway through the third.

Overtime settled nothing, so the two teams went to a shootout. Irving was superb, stopping all four shooters he faced. Chucko, meanwhile, scored on a nifty move, faking a slap shot before sliding a cheeky finish between Sanford’s legs. Jason Jaffray wired a wrist shot past Sanford’s blocker to provide insurance in the shootout.

The victory marked the second in a row for the Heat, who have righted themselves after beginning their six-game road trip with three losses. Abbotsford can even its record on the trip by beating the Lake Erie Monsters in Cleveland on Sunday night.

The next Heat home games are Nov. 6-7, when the Rockford IceHogs visit the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.

The Heat boosted their record to 6-4-2-1, good for fourth place in the AHL's North Division. The third-place Bulldogs dropped to 6-0-1-3, but they remained the only team in the league without a regulation loss this season.

-- by Dave Sheldon