San Jose Sharks 6, Chicago Blackhawks 3 FINAL

CHICAGO (AP) _ Marco Sturm and the San Jose Sharks had an easy time defeating the depleted Chicago Blackhawks.

Sturm had a goal and two assists Thursday night, and San Jose defeated Chicago 6-3 for its third win in four games.

Patrick Marleau and Vincent Damphousse each had power-play goals and an assist for the Sharks. Wayne Primeau, Alexander Korolyuk and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for San Jose.

The Blackhawks traded team captain Alex Zhamnov to Philadelphia just before the game. Although a deal involving Zhamnov was expected, the timing seemed to disrupt the Blackhawks.

Chicago traded leading scorer Steve Sullivan to Nashville on Monday.

``I think it's really tough for them,'' Sturm said after having his first three-point game since Oct. 12, 2002. ``They lost the top two players on their team and some of their guys are hurting, too.

``It was a big game for us,'' he added. ``We just wanted to go hard against these guys. Our line was clicking real good. They came out a little flat and we took advantage.''

The Sharks had two power-play goals in seven chances, scoring with man advantage for the first time in six games.

San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was only lightly tested, although he gave up goals to Tuomo Ruutu, Brett McLean and Bryan Berard on 34 shots.

Ruutu added two assists for his first three-point game in the NHL. Blackhawks goalie Craig Anderson made 24 saves.

``Say what you want to say, some of our older guys were sloppy tonight,'' Chicago coach Brian Sutter said. ``Every goal they scored was sloppy. There were turnovers and mistakes.''

Ruutu slammed San Jose defenseman Tom Preissing into the boards 40 seconds into the game. Although Preissing wasn't seriously injured, he lost consciousness briefly and didn't' return.

``That was such a blatant hit from behind,'' Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. ``He (Ruutu) left his feet and you could tag on a bunch of other things and you knock a guys out.''

However, no penalties were called on the play.

Marleau's power-play goal opened the scoring at 4:32 of the first. Set up by Damphousse, he broke in alone and beat Anderson from close range on the stick side.

Ruutu tied it when he fired a rebound of Kyle Calder's shot under Nabokov's arm.

Primeau gave San Jose a 2-1 lead later in the first period. He popped in a rebound of Sturm's shot after Sturm cut to the net off right wing.

Damphousse's power-play goal in the second period made it 3-1. He lofted home a rebound of his own shot with Anderson down.

Sturm extended the Sharks' lead to 4-1 1:09 later. He drove to the net down the left side of the slot and sent a shot under Anderson's right arm.

Korolyuk stretched it to 5-1 when he broke in, deked and beat Anderson with a backhander.

McLean scored on the power play midway through the third to make it 5-2. Berard scored with 1:01 left to make it 5-3. Cheechoo's goal with 19 seconds left completed the scoring.