The St Louis Blues will have another home game after a thrilling 6-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. After the injury to starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, there was concern amongst reporters that Avs goalie Christobel Huet would easier outplay Garon. However, Blues coach Trotz was able to drill strong two-way play into his players while concentrating on the powerplay during yesterday's practice. Both paid off well as St Louis dominated the first period, scoring 3 times on 16 shots while holding the Avalanche to just 6. For the first time this series, Huet looked human as he allowed 5 goals on 27 shots.

Paul Kariya got the Blues rolling in the first after pouncing on a rebound after Joseph Corvo was able to take advantage of a weak clearance. Less than five minutes later, recently demoted center Eric Staal doubled the lead with his 3rd of the year. After poor play through the first three games, Eric Staal has found himself centering Paul Kariya and Chris Kunitz on the Blues 2nd line. Brian Rolston, who was promoted with Mike Fisher to the 1st line scored his 2nd of the season to silence the once-joyous Colorado crowd.

Although the 2nd period was much more even in shots, with Colorado edging the Blues 12-11, the Blues scored twice more to get Huet pulled. Paul Kariya set up Rolston on the powerplay less than 5 minutes in before returning with his linemates Staal and Kunitz to set up Staal's 4th of the playoffs.

In the third, Brad Richards ended Garon's shutout bid with less than ten minutes to go in an attempt to gain some momentum for game 6, but Chris Phillips took advantage of an undisciplined penalty by Sean Avery to end the scoring and game 5.

"Mathieu showed us that we can count on him if Nabokov is injured, he's done his job and we've got Evgeni back for Game 6. As long as we continue our discipline and strong two-way play, we're in with a chance in game 6." [Evans]