(My Sportsbook) - The San Jose Sharks, still without key figures, were ambushed during a five-goal second period in Monday's 5-2 loss to Vancouver at the Compaq Center.

The Sharks allowed five goals, three to Markus Naslund, in a span of 6:43 en route to their second straight loss, and fourth in five games to start the season. The five goals allowed were the quickest in a period against San Jose, erasing the mark of 7:15 set by Pittsburgh on December 17, 1991.

It was also the first time the Sharks surrendered five goals in a stanza since the Colorado Avalanche torched them in a 6-0 loss back on October 8, 1996.

"There's a thousand theories, but theories are for scientists," Mike Ricci, who had a goal, said. "We're too stupid for that. We've just got to get back to the X's and O's."

Things got off to a good start for the Sharks, as Teemu Selanne's third tally of the year gave San Jose a 1-0 lead. It was the fourth consecutive game that the Sharks have scored first, but they have only one win to show for it. Last season San Jose was an impressive 34-7-4-1 when scoring fist.

However, the wheels came off in the second as Naslund scored three times with Brendan Morrison and Trent Klatt chipping in goals as well.

Vesa Toskala started his third consecutive game between the pipes for the Sharks, but was replaced by his Finnish countryman Miikka Kiprusoff after Morrison's shorthanded goal made it 2-1.

Kiprusoff, who owns the league's worst save-percentage, did not fare much better and allowed three more scores.

"Obviously they want their goaltending to be a little sharper," Canucks Coach Marc Crawford said. "But we did some good things tonight."

To make matters worse for San Jose, captain Owen Nolan left the game in the third period when he tweaked his groin, and did not return. Nolan joined the team's second-leading scorer from a year ago, Scott Thornton (shoulder surgery), on the sideline.

And of course, defenseman Brad Stuart and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov still remain unsigned.

"We can't control who the players on the ice are," Coach Darryl Sutter said. "But the players, as a whole, need to make a better commitment to playing better team defense. Every mistake we made tonight, and every mistake we made since the Detroit game, is based on that principle...Our defensive commitment just isn't there shift to shift."

WHAT'S NEXT

The Sharks embark on a six-game road trip that will begin on Thursday in Nashville and will conclude with visits to Columbus, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Anaheim.