By Morris Phillips

SAN JOSE–Coming off a perfect six-game road trip and eager to show off their new, winning ways back at home with an eye on regaining sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division, the Sharks figured to take the ice at the SAP Center Wednesday night in a feeding frenzy.

But their opponent, the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, aren’t exactly a home-cooked meal.

Brent Seabrook capitalized on Chicago’s early momentum, scoring on a one-timer eight minutes in, and the Blackhawks kept the Sharks on their heels throughout in a 5-2 win.   The Hawks came out flying, amassing the first eight shots on goal, while the Sharks didn’t get their first until 13 minutes had elapsed and they were trailing 1-0.

“The story of the game was the first period and how we started,” Coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were sloppy and a little slow in the first.”

While the Sharks lost for the first time since November 10, the Los Angeles Kings also lost 2-1 in Tampa to the Lightning in a shootout. But the Kings picked up a valuable point to maintain their perch atop the Pacific Division.

In four of the six games on the just-completed road trip, the Sharks allowed two goals or less. But in the first period alone, goalie Martin Jones was beaten twice, giving the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead after a period. If Wednesday’s matchup was the NHL’s hottest team versus the league’s hottest player, than Patrick Kane was the clear winner there, picking up a pair of assists, including the cross ice pass to set up Seabrook’s opening goal.

Kane also assisted on Duncan Keith’s second period goal that put Chicago up, 3-1. The Blackhawks’ offensive catalyst has now collected points in a career-best 17 consecutive games and he leads the NHL with 21 assists and 34 points.

While the Sharks were returning from their perfect road trip through the Northeast, the Hawks spent the last couple of days in Las Vegas, an annual tradition for their club in the month of November. But the kicker may have been the bad taste the Hawks acquired over the weekend in a humbling loss at Vancouver where they surrendered six goals to the Canucks.

Corey Crawford allowed five goals on just 19 shots Saturday, but he was back in goal Wednesday with much different results. Crawford kept the Sharks relatively quiet, allowing a power play goal to Brent Burns in the first period, and a goal to Patrick Marleau in the third, after the Hawks killed off a pair of critical, two-minute penalties earlier in the period.

And as soon as Marleau’s goal cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2 with 8:40 remaining, Andres Desjardins answered a minute later with his first goal of the season to again extend the Hawks’ lead to two goals.

Jones saved 21 of 25 shots faced, a performance well off his goals against average of 2.02, which ranks him behind only Henrik Lundquist, Braden Holtby and Ben Bishop on the list of the NHL’s top goaltenders.

Danius Zubrus, the 37-year old veteran best known for his days in New Jersey with the Devils, made his Sharks’ debut Wednesday on the team’s fourth line.  Zubrus, who worked out for almost a week with the club before he was signed to a one-year deal, was on the ice for 10:13 and saw some time on the Sharks’ penalty kill unit.

The Sharks resume their home stand on Saturday when the Calgary Flames visit the SAP Center at 7:05pm.