"The Sharks haven't come away empty-handed from too many games lately, but they did Sunday night.

And even though the 4-3 loss to the energized Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center was by the narrowest of margins, came at the end of a trip through North America's frozen midsection and was only San Jose's second regulation loss in 16 games, coach Todd McLellan wasn't cutting his players any slack.

Not after a dominating performance by Chicago's top line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Viktor Stalberg. The three accounted for two Chicago goals, registered a combined 17 shots and had the puck all night, often as a result of San Jose turnovers.

"I don't know if the puck had a Blackhawk logo on it and we thought we had to give it back to them," McLellan said, "but we certainly did for at least the first half of the game.""