SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- The San Jose Sharks have spent the past few weeks looking at their position atop the NHL's Pacific Division. Defenseman Jeff Norton suggests they look somewhere else.

	San Jose's Brad Stuart, right, chases after Chicago's Michael Nylander.

After a 5-2 defeat Tuesday night by Chicago, the worst team in the Western Conference, the Sharks hardly felt like division leaders.

"That was wonderful, wasn't it?" Norton said. "We've all got to look in the mirror here and stop listening to everyone around the league talking about how good we are and get back to doing it."

Bryan McCabe and Jean-Pierre Dumont scored 12 seconds apart late in the first period and Jocelyn Thibault made 36 saves as the Blackhawks broke a three-game losing streak in a physical game that featured 27 penalties.

The Blackhawks said they were motivated by a 7-1 loss at San Jose early in the season in October.

"We had to do what we did tonight. It was a really tough, physical game, but there are some games that just happen to be physical," left wing Bob Probert said. "It was payback time. We were thinking about payback the whole time. It was very important for us to get the win. They embarrassed us the last time."

The goals by McCabe and Dumont gave Chicago a 3-0 lead after one period and the Sharks never got close after that. San Jose ended its four-game homestand with a loss after two wins and a tie.

"That's an embarrassment. There's no way we should lose to that team," San Jose's Owen Nolan said. "It's getting ridiculous now. There's no way we're going to win the Stanley Cup if we play like this. Good teams play well every night."

Kyle Calder added his first NHL goal and Michael Nylander and Steve Sullivan also scored for Chicago, which has played much better on the road than at home this season.

The Blackhawks, who started a three-game California road trip Wednesday, are 6-9-1 away from home this season but only 2-10-3 at the United Center in Chicago.

Jeff Friesen and Mike Ricci scored power-play goals for the Sharks, who lost at home for only the fifth time this season.

Thibault, playing in his second game since returning from a six-game absence because of a broken finger on his left hand, won for just the third time in 16 games this season.

The Sharks tried two goalies, and both struggled. Steve Shields allowed three goals in the first period and Mike Vernon gave up two goals in the third period.

Each team had a player in the penalty box when Nylander completed a give-and-go with Sullivan by slipping the puck past Shields with 4:35 gone in the game.

Near the end of a fight-filled first period that included 38 minutes in penalties, the Blackhawks added two quick goals. McCabe scored on a shot from just inside the blue line with 2:27 left in the period, and Dumont poked a rebound of his own shot past Shields with 2:15 remaining.

Shields, who faced 17 shots in the opening period, was replaced by Vernon at the start of the second period.

The Sharks took 21 shots and allowed only two shots on goal in the second period and pulled within 3-1 when Nolan slipped a pass to Friesen for a goal early in the period while the Sharks had a two-man advantage.

But Calder scored on a 20-foot shot early in the third period to make it 4-1, and Sullivan added his goal midway through the period when he came from behind the net and wrapped the puck through Vernon's legs.

Ricci scored his goal with 3:58 remaining, with Nolan getting another assist. Nolan, playing in his 600th NHL game, got his 44th and 45th points of the season -- second in the league.