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BOX SCORE
ST. LOUIS (AP) – An unlikely hero, stay-at-home rookie
defenseman Bryce Salvador, helped the St. Louis Blues regain
control of their first-round series.
Salvador, who had only two goals and 10 points in the regular
season and last scored on Jan. 10, connected on a slap shot from
the point at 9:54 of overtime for a 3-2 victory over the San Jose
Sharks on Thursday night.
|  | | Bryce Salvador, left, scored his first goal of the postseason in OT to help the Blues beat Owen Nolan and the Sharks. |
"I looked up and saw an open lane," Salvador said. "I'm like
'Holy Cow, get this thing on the net!' I won't forget about this
one, ever."
Salvador, who has taken only four shots in the series, scored
his first career playoff goal on a high drive above backup goalie
Miikka Kiprusoff's glove hand after Pierre Turgeon won a faceoff
and dropped the puck to him.
"I just tried to battle and it just bounced in the right
place," Turgeon said. "It's just good timing and a great shot."
Mike Ricci, who lost the faceoff, said the play should have been
whistled dead because the puck never hit the ice on the draw. It
appeared to deflect off Ricci's stick, with Turgeon never touching
it.
"It should have been an unassisted goal, that's what it should
have been," Ricci said. "But I lost the faceoff and they scored.
I take responsibility for that."
Kiprusoff blamed himself.
"There was a little screen, but when he shot I saw it clear,"
Kiprusoff said. "I could have stopped it. It was almost a
blue-line shot."
Dallas Drake force the extra period with his fourth goal of the
series with 2:48 to play and added an assist, giving him seven
points in the series. Drake had 41 points in the regular season.
Turgeon also set up the tying goal, and has a team-leading nine
points in the series.
"I give him full marks," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said.
"Really, Turgeon was the difference in the game. He made a great
play on the tying goal, and wins the faceoff on the winner."
Turgeon made a quick recovery after getting hit in the mouth by
a puck with 7:05 left. He briefly left the bench for stitches.
"I lost a couple teeth, but hey, that's playoff hockey,"
Turgeon said. "I think I missed one shift. I wanted to go back
right away. I said, 'Get me back out there.'"
The Blues, who won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's best
regular-season team last spring and then lost to the Sharks in a
seven-game first-round series, can close them out in Game 6
Saturday in San Jose.
"It was an imperative game for us," Blues forward Keith
Tkachuk said. "Game 6 is going to be unbelievable and we're going
to have to play our best."
Game 7 would be Monday night in St. Louis.
Stephane Matteau scored his first playoff goal in seven years
and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Sharks. Teemu Selanne had
two assists for his first points of the series.
St. Louis won despite another sparkling effort from Kiprusoff,
making his second career playoff start. Kiprusoff, playing in place
of the injured or ill Evgeni Nabokov for the second straight game,
had 35 saves in Game 5 – only his eighth NHL game. The Blues
dominated the extra period, outshooting San Jose 9-2.
Kiprusoff turned away 39 shots in the Sharks' 3-1 Game 4
victory.
The Sharks said Nabokov, also a rookie, had the flu in Game 4
and the diagnosis didn't change for Game 5. The San Jose Mercury
News reported Nabokov had a back injury, and he didn't make the
trip.
Scott Young added his second goal of the series for the Blues,
who outshot the Sharks 10-3 in the third period to tie it.
Drake converted a setup from Turgeon for his fourth goal of the
series. Turgeon wheeled around the net and centered to Drake
streaking toward the net.
Marleau put the Sharks ahead 2-1 in the second, picking up a
rebound alone in front of the net after Selanne's back-hand shot
was stopped short of the net.
Young gave the Blues the early lead with his second goal of the
series on a give-and-go with Drake in the first, beating Kiprusoff
with a shot just inside the left post. Young also had a break-in
about a minute later, but was stopped.
Matteau tied it with a shot from the slot that slid under Roman
Turek's pad. It was his first playoff goal since his Eastern
Conference series-clinching goal for the Rangers over the New
Jersey Devils en route to the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup – a stretch
of 55 games.
The Sharks continued to struggle on the power play, going
0-for-4. They're 0-for-22 in the series.
The Blues also struggled with the extra man, going 0-for-5.
Game notes
The last nine times the Blues have been in a series tied
2-2, they've lost the series. That strange-but-true slump dates to
1986, when the Blues won the division finals against Toronto and
the division semifinals against Minnesota. ... Sharks forward Bryan
Marchmant (knee) was among the scratches. ... Selanne, a trading
deadline pickup by the Sharks, had been held to three shots in the
first four games of the series. ... The Blues' last overtime
playoff game was a 2-1 loss in Game 6 of the second round against
Dallas on May 17, 1999. ... Blues captain Chris Pronger, who took
five minor penalties in Game 4, spent no time in the penalty box in
Game 5. ... The Sharks have lost five straight times in Game 5 in
the playoffs.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
San Jose Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
Sharks-Blues Series Page
RECAPS
Philadelphia 3
Buffalo 1
St. Louis 3
San Jose 2
Dallas 4
Edmonton 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bryce Salvador's one-timer settles it in overtime and gives the Blues a 3-2 series lead.
avi: 1725 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Pierre Turgeon wraps around the back of the net and feeds Dallas Drake for the game-tying goal.
avi: 1875 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Scott Young skates across the line and pings the puck in off the post for the 1-0 lead.
avi: 929 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Stephane Matteau quick wrist-shot goes right under Roman Turek to tie the game at 1.
avi: 1126 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
Patrick Marleau grabs the deflection off the skate of Pierre Turgeon and puts the Sharks up 2-1.
avi: 1441 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN'
'Cable Modem
 Bryce Salvador talks about his overtime goal, capping off St. Louis' come-from-behind victory.
wav: 372 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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