Owen Nolan scored his ninth career hat trick, including two goals during San Jose's five-goal first period Sunday, leading the Sharks to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Darren Turcotte had two first-period goals as San Jose completed its longest road trip of the season with a 3-2-1 record. With Ulf Dahlen, Turcotte and Nolan scoring on consecutive shots in an 87-second span, the Sharks broke open the game early.The first period, probably the Blackhawks' worst 20 minutes this season, kept Chicago from extending its five-game unbeaten streak.
It was 1-1 at 7:12 when Tony Amonte was called for taking a "dive" in trying to draw a tripping penalty on the Sharks. Dahlen took advantage of the power play, scoring on a rebound at 8:34 after Jimmy Waite stopped Al Iafrate's shot from the point.
Turcotte made it 3-1 at 9:27, beating defenseman Eric Weinrich to poke Tony Granato's pass into the net. Just 34 seconds later, Nolan scored from the goal line to Waite's right.
Nolan, who has goals in three consecutive games and points in eight straight, scored again at 18:50 for a 5-1 lead and then completed his hat trick at 6:44 of the third period for his 300th career point. He had just one goal before his current hot streak.
Waite started his second successive game in place of Ed Belfour, who has a sore back but nonetheless played the third period. Belfour had been in goal the previous seven games, winning the last four. Regular backup Jeff Hackett is out with a broken finger.
Eric Daze and Alexei Zhamnov scored power-play goals for Chicago. It was the first goal for Zhamnov, who had a long contract holdout after arriving in the trade for Jeremy Roenick.