It was the tale of two halves, two goalkeepers and eight rounds of shootout for the Abbotsford Heat.

The hometown AHL squad avenged a 3-2 shootout loss Monday to the Toronto Marlies by edging the visitors 4-3 at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre Tuesday evening.

Hometown boy David Van der Gulik scored the winner in the eighth round of the shootout as the Heat overcame a deficit after two periods for just the second time this season.

Goaltender Matt Keetley came out of the bullpen to backstop the victory, stopping all 11 shots he faced in 35 minutes of play and then allowing only one Marlie, Josh Engel, to beat him in eight shootout attempts. He replaced David Shantz, who allowed three goals on 15 shots in his fifth consecutive start.

"I felt like I had to redeem myself from my last shootout when I allowed three-for-three," said Keetley, who wasn't fazed by having to sit on the bench and watch Shantz.

"It can be tough, but the last two years I've been in and out of a backup job. My first year I only got into 18 games, so I know what it's like."

The win evens the Heat's record at 23-23-4-4, and kept Toronto (19-24-5-5) six points back of Abbotsford in the North Division. The victory vaulted the Heat into the fourth in the division, two points ahead of the Lake Erie Monsters, who have two games in hand on the Heat.

Kyle Calder, a veteran of 576 NHL games on loan from the Anaheim Ducks, scored for the Marlies at the first-period buzzer from a scramble in front of Shantz. Heat defenders whiffed on several chances to clear the puck in the crease before Calder put it into the net.

Abbotsford trailed 1-0 despite having a 15-9 shots on goal advantage and despite having four power-play opportunities, including a span of 1:51 of five-on-three in which the Heat failed to generate a quality scoring chance.

The Heat's only good chance of the period came with just over a minute left when Jason Jaffray was in cold on Joey MacDonald, who has seen time with both the Maple Leafs and New York Islanders, but the Toronto goalie held his ground.

Just 2:08 into the second period, the Marlies extended their lead to 2-0 when Ashton Rome, younger brother of Vancouver Canucks defenceman Aaron Rome, scored his third of the season with a hard snapshot under the crossbar past Shantz.

Then midway through the second period Toronto's Greg Scott scored, although the shot appeared to go off the stick of Heat defenceman Josh Meyers. That's when head coach Jim Playfair gave Shantz, who had been promoted from the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL when Leland Irving, expected to the the Heat's No. 1 starter at the beginning of the season, was demoted.

"The change added some energy to the group," said Playfair, who wasn't sure which netminder would get the start when begin a nine-game, three-week road trip in Rochester on Friday night.

"Goaltending hasn't been one of my favourite subjects this year. Keetley did well and gave us a chance to win."

Keetley, whose last win came exactly a month ago, admitted he had nothing to lose.

"There's not a lot of pressure," he said of Tuesday night's relief role. "You obviously want to come out and perform. For the most part I just wanted to come out and have fun."

The Heat finally hit the scoreboard with just under five minutes left in the second period when Shawn Weller, playing just his fifth AHL game of the season on loan to Abbotsford from the Ducks, scored his first of the year on the powerplay, banging in a backhand on a rebound of a Staffan Kronwall point shot.

The Heat drew within one 1:28 into the third period on the power play when defenceman Gord Baldwin's shot hit the upper arm of Toronto defender Keith Aulie, recently traded from the Heat by the Calgary Flames to Toronto. The deflected puck rolled across the line with MacDonald oblivious to where it was.

Abbotsford finally drew even with another power play marker with five minutes left in the third period when Kronwall's floating wrist shot deflected off Cam Cunning, who was screening MacDonald.

Both teams had chances to score the winner on late power plays in the third period, but neither were able to come through.

The best chance in overtime came when Garth Murray's shot went off the shaft of MacDonald's stick and wide.

ICE CHIPS:

• Heat enforcer Pete Vandermeer had to fill in on the blueline when Keith Seabrook fell ill Tuesday. Playfair praised the veteran for drawing key penalties that helped in the Heat's comeback.

• Abbotsford scored all three of its goals on the power play, on nine opportunities.

• Official attendance was 3,390, a fair number of them occasionally chanting "Go Leafs Go."

• The Heat don't play at home again until March 2 and 3, when the Providence Bruins are in town.