Avs grab the lead

Dallas
Stars

"We all needed to pick it up and do something extra," said Forsberg. "A lot of guys chipped in. Chris made a couple of great plays."

The Avalanche now leads the Western Conference final series three games to two and has a chanche to wrap it up in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Denver. If a seventh game is needed, it will be Friday night in Dallas.

"This gives us some momentum, but the next game is the most important, it's in our building with a chance to put them away," said rookie Chris Drury.

The game was a fast paced offensive feast, which suits fast and talented Colorado well.

"We played more to their style of play. We are a tight-checking team and we certainly got away from that," said Dallas center Joe Nieuwendyk. "This one hurts. Five goals usually are enough for us to win, we never need any more than that."

Ed Belfour, playing in his 100th playoff game, made 19 saves and is not to be blamed for the Stars' loss.

"All year long, he has played consistently well and has kept us in game after game. When you give a team like Colorado numerous odd-man opportunities, like we gave them today, it's going to catch up to you no matter who's in goal," Mike Modano said.