HAMILTON, Ont. - The Abbotsford Heat couldn't figure out Curtis Sanford in regulation. They made up for it in the shootout.
Kris Chucko and Jason Jaffray had shootout goals and the Heat grinded out a 2-1 win against the Hamilton Bulldogs in American Hockey League action on Friday night.
Heat leading scorer Mikael Backlund scored in regulation for Abbotsford, while Tom Pyatt scored for the Bulldogs.
Sanford was superb in net for Bulldogs, making 34 saves in regulation, but he couldn't repeat his heroics in the shootout.
"What can you do? It's 50-50, a coin toss really," said Sanford. "You can practice doing shootouts until you are blue in the face, but when you get going against guys you don't see very often, it's a little bit different."
Heading into Friday's game, Sanford had a 0.949 save percentage and 1.28 goals against average.
Abbotsford goalie Leland Irving, a first-round pick for the Calgary Flames in the 2006 draft, proved tough for the Bulldogs to solve.
He stopped 30 shots plus all four of Hamilton's shootout attempts to earn his fifth win of the season.
"Our guys played hard. It was a great effort by Sanford -- he came up with some great stops that kept them in the game," Irving said. "The ice was taking a little bit of creativity out of it. It was real soft."
Hamilton is still the only team in the AHL without a regulation loss, going 6-0-4 over its first 10 games.
While Sanford stood on his head, Hamilton looked off their game. Bulldogs coach Guy Boucher said his team was tired after coming home from a three-game Texas road trip.
"We probably underestimated the effect of that trip," he said. "I can't really tell the players that they didn't put in any effort, because on the bench the guys are winded."
The game was a physical affair, with plenty of hits and skirmishes, plus two fights. Hamilton forward Andrew Conboy scrapped with Abbotsford winger J.D. Watt in the first period, while Abbotsford centre Jamie Lundmark dropped the gloves with Hamilton centre Ryan White in the second.
"We need to get a little more grittier and a little more dirtier in front of the net," said Sanford. "(The Heat) are a very physical team. They are molded by what they do up top - great forechecking."
Hamilton remains in third place in the North Division and Abbotsford (6-4-2-1) remains in fourth.
Pyatt opened the scoring with 3.6 seconds left in the first period. After the Bulldogs killed off a Heat power play, defenceman Shawn Belle fed Pyatt with a breakaway pass. Irving attempted a poke-check, but the winger danced around Irving and put the puck into an empty net.
Abbotsford answered with 44 seconds left in the second period. Backlund beat Sanford from the slot for his fifth goal of the year.
The match marked the first meeting between the Bulldogs and Heat since the Calgary Flames' farm team moved from Illinois to Abbotsford, B.C. this season. The North Division rivals will play each other seven more times this season.
Disgruntled Bulldog Sergei Kostitsyn was largely unnoticeable despite more than 18 minutes of ice time. He did not manage any shots on goal during the game, and spoiled a chance to redeem himself in the shootout when he hit the crossbar.
The forward initially refused to report to Hamilton when the Montreal Canadiens cut him after training camp. He made headlines again for leaving town after Hamilton's Oct. 20 game against Manitoba, before Habs general manager Bob Gainey reportedly met with Kostitsyn on Oct. 21 and convinced him to return.
Boucher said Kostitsyn has not been a distraction.
"Tuesday night (before he left), he was here with a big smile. Wednesday night apparently he was gone (to Montreal). But we had a practice on Thursday morning and he was there," the coach said. "It's more of a thing with the media in Montreal. We don't have a problem with Sergei."
The Bulldogs have a six-day break before their next game, against the Binghamton Senators at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The Heat will face what will likely be a tired Lake Erie Monsters team on Sunday afternoon - it will be Lake Erie's third match in three days.
More than 4,000 fans turned out to Copps Coliseum to watch the game.
NOTES: Swedish centre Mikhael Johansson made his home debut for the Bulldogs after missing the start of the season with a groin injury. He signed with the Montreal Canadiens in May after playing four seasons with Farjestads of the Swedish Elite League, and played his first game against Houston on Tuesday.