Blues can't close door on Canucks

St. Louis falls 5-3 in Game 5, still leads series.

The Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison both scored their first goal of the playoffs and the Vancouver Canucks avoided elimination with a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Friday night.

Brent Sopel and Markus Naslund also scored as the Canucks top line finally broke through. The Blues return to St. Louis for Sunday's Game 6 with a 3-2 lead in the first-round series. Game 7 would be Tuesday.

The trio of Naslund, Morrison and Bertuzzi combined for 119 goals and 272 points in the regular season, but had just one goal and three assists in the first four games of the playoffs.

St. Louis' Martin Rucinsky scored with 55.5 seconds left to make things interesting, but Sami Salo restored the two-goal cushion just over seven seconds later with a slap shot from the top of the circle.

Tyson Nash and Cory Stillman also scored for the Blues.

After being outscored 14-4 in the first four games, the Canucks scored three goals against Chris Osgood during a second period when they outshot the Blues 17-6.

With the game tied at 1, Bertuzzi -- who scored 46 goals in the regular season -- leveled defenseman Barret Jackman behind the net. Bertuzzi then took a pass at the top of the crease with his back turned to the net and, in one spinning motion, tucked the puck and his stick between his own legs and slipped a shot under Osgood.

Morrison made it 3-1 at with 3:36 left in the second period. Naslund converted a two-man advantage with a sharp-angle shot from just above the goal line two minutes later.