  Defenceman Logan Pyett (left) and Team Canada teammates celebrate a second period goal against Team Russia during Game 5 of the Super Series in Winnpeg on Tuesday. (Sun Media/Jason Halstead)
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Just when it looked like jet lag might catch up with Team Canada, Claude Giroux provided an offensive spark which helped bring his team back to life.
Giroux, a first round (22nd overall) pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2007, scored a pair of goals to inspire a five-goal outburst in the second period as Canada cruised to an 8-1 victory over Russia in the fifth game of the Super Series.
With the victory, Canada now leads the eight-game series 5-0 as the series shifts to Saskatoon, Sask., tonight.
"(In the second period) We started to play like we did in the first four games," said Giroux, who added an assist for a three-point night. "We just battled and worked harder than the Russians. We're very happy to win the five games, but we've got three games to go. We're going to try and win all the games."
Playing in front of an appreciative crowd of 13,563 at the MTS Centre was a thrill for many of the Canadians.
"It was awesome. There's no better place for hockey than in Canada," said centre Sam Gagner, who had a goal and two assists. "It was pretty exciting. I get to play in front of 9,000 every night in London (Ontario) but this was something else. The fans were great. And you definitely have a lot of pride putting this (1972 retro) jersey on."
Following a physical but scoreless opening period, Giroux broke in and scored on a beautiful deke at 3:18.
Giroux banked home a shot at 6:05 to extend the lead before Alexander Vasyunov got the Russians on the board at 8:56 of the second period, making a nifty move in the slot before beating Jonathan Bernier to the blocker side.
But defenceman Logan Pyett whistled a slapper past Vadim Zhelobnyuk from the left point at 11:52 for a short-handed marker that restored the two-goal cushion.
"That seemed to deflate them a little bit," said Canadian head coach Brent Sutter. "From that point on, it seemed to snowball against them and snowball for us."
And it didn't stop there.
After failing to connect on a lengthy two-man advantage in the first period, Canada made its second one count.
John Tavares missed the net on a shot from the slot but the puck caromed off the end boards, hit Zhelobnyuk in the back and eventually bounced in off the leg of David Perron.
Before the second penalty was over, Gagner buried a rebound on the doorstep to make it 5-1.
Zach Boychuk, Zach Hamill and Kyle Turris also scored for Canada in the third.
"It took us a while to adjust to the smaller ice again," said Sutter. "Here everything seemed to happen quicker for our guys. It took a good period to get the flow back to playing the way we want to play."
NOTES: Canada's game-worn 1972 retro jerseys will be available for auction on e-bay, with the proceeds going to support grassroots hockey initiatives in Canada ... With forwards Alex Cherepanov and Egor Averin and defenceman Valeri Zhukov out with injuries, defenceman Kirill Tulupov and forward Ruslan Bashkirov saw their first action of the series for Russia.
