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Until Wednesday night, no Sharks team had ever given up three short-handed goals in the same game.

But thats what happened against the Chicago Blackhawks, and if youre looking for what went wrong as San Jose dropped a 7-2 decision in what had been billed as a battle of the NHLs top two teams, thats the place to start.

One? Two? Three? Thats embarrassing, said defenseman Dan Boyle. That whole night we should be embarrassed with the way we came out, with the way we played. That was ugly.

The Sharks first regulation home defeat of the season was also their most lopsided loss as the Blackhawks built a 7-0 lead before goals late in the third period by Boyle and center Joe Pavelski at least avoided the stigma of a shutout.

Chicago got two goals from Marian Hossa their big-ticket free agent who was playing his first game after spending the past two months recovering from shoulder surgery and single goals from Troy Brouwer, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook and John Madden.

Weve played some good Hockey to this point, but obviously this is humbling, Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. Maybe this is something we needed a little bit, too. McLellan had said all along he would break up his top line of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau if things werent going well, and thats exactly what he did at the end of the second period.

The game had more than its share of hype for a late November matchup with a New York Times blog referring to it as the game of the season so far. Chicago had won seven games in a row, and the Sharks had only one regulation loss in their past 14.

San Joses undoing came on the power play.

The first periods only penalty went to Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook, but the Blackhawks turned that to their advantage when Brouwer fired a 40-foot wrist shot from the right faceoff circle that eluded Nabokov glove at 17:45.

I gave him the shot, said Boyle, who played despite missing two days of practices with a bad foot. I wanted him to shoot that, and Im sure Nabby stops that 99 times out of 100. It only got worse in the second period as the Blackhawks struck for two short-handed goals 28 seconds apart while Brouwer was in the penalty box for boarding.

First, Hossa stole the puck off the stick of Sharks defenseman Kent Huskins, then beat Nabokov on a breakaway at 4:57.

Indecision on my part, Huskins said. I was going to shoot, and then I saw Patty. Hossa just kind of crept up and got a stick on it. That was a killer. Shortly after that, Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked a shot by Ryane Clowe and sent Sharp down the ice for another breakaway goal at 5:25 after Sharks defenseman Jason Demers fell in pursuit.

Just hit a rut or something, Demers said. Sniper in the stands caught me, and you cant do much about that. Nabokov left the game after two periods and the score 4-0 following Byfugliens goal at 10:38, but his replacement didnt fare much better as Thomas Greiss stopped only nine of the 12 shots he faced in the third period.

The Sharks got two goals back when Boyle scored with the Sharks holding a two-man advantage, and Pavelski added one at even strength goal 93 seconds later.

While the short-handed goals stood out, Marleau said that wasnt the only problem.

Right from the start they were quicker to loose pucks, he said. and they were executing all over the ice, making flat passes. The puck wasnt bouncing for them, and we were putting it on their tape too.

McLellan didnt let anyone off the hook after the loss.

We often talk about wins being a real good team win, he said. This was a real good team loss. There wasnt anybody that played the way they could.Blackhawks 7, Sharks 2NEXT GAME: Friday, at Oilers, 6:30 p.m.