SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Things came crashing down for the Penguins last night.

Already missing key players to injury, they lost defenseman Kris Letang in the first period. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals in less than 22 minutes before getting pulled. Center and captain Sidney Crosby was held without a point for the fourth game in a row. The power play was 0-for-4, extending its drought to 0-for 21 over five games.

When it was over, the Penguins ended their West Coast swing with a 5-0 loss to goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion.

Coach Dan Bylsma had no report on Letang, who was favoring his right arm or shoulder and could join defensemen Sergei Gonchar (wrist) and forwards Evgeni Malkin (shoulder), Tyler Kennedy (groin) and Max Talbot (shoulder) among those who are out.

Even before Letang's injury, though, the Penguins were struggling.

"For whatever reason, we're not playing the way we should be right now, and the last few games it's kind of shown," said defenseman Alex Goligoski, who was questionable to play after not feeling well the day before but ended up playing a team-high 27 minutes, 1 second after Letang left the game and, in the third period, the Penguins were reduced to four defensemen after veteran Jay McKee was escorted from the game after taking a several penalties.

Goligoski said he felt fine in the game. Physically, anyway.

The sting of losing two games in a row for the first time this season -- and giving up five goals in each after not allowing more than four previously -- hung in the Penguins' locker room.

"Let's face it -- we're playing in the National Hockey League, and we have to get ourselves to a certain level," winger Matt Cooke said. "Everyone's intentions are to go out there and win a hockey game. For whatever reason, we've been -- for lack of a better term -- lackluster at points during the last couple games."

It didn't take long for that to show against the Sharks, who were dominant enough in the first period and came out of it with a 13-3 shot advantage and a 2-0 lead.

They struck early, making it 1-0 at 3:27 of the first period on a play that started when the Penguins' Chris Kunitz turned the puck over at the San Jose blue line and ended when Jamie McGinn slipped the puck inside the right goalpost.

The Penguins lost Letang during a mid-period power play when he got dumped by San Jose's Kent Huskins as he attempted to get off a shot on a rebound. Letang fell hard, stayed down briefly, then went to the bench with his right arm hanging limp. He did not return.

"He's got to see the doctor," coach Dan Bylsma said.

Joe Pavelski's first goal of the season, on a power play, boosted the Sharks' lead to 2-0 at 16:04 of the first period. From the slot, he deflected in a shot by Dan Boyle, who moved in from the right point before firing.

"We didn't start real well. We haven't started real well the last few games," Goligoski said.

There was no evidence that the Penguins regrouped for the second period as the Sharks got two quick goals.

Boyle scored from the right dot on an unscreened shot during four-on-four play at 1:41, making it 3-0 and prompting Bylsma to replace Fleury with backup Brent Johnson.

"We all know that at least one of those [goals] he wanted back," Bylsma said of Fleury, who stopped 11 shots in 21:41. "At that point it was a change of scenery and trying to stop the bleeding and get our team focused in the right direction."

The Sharks' Dany Heatley beat Brent Johnson on a rebound for a 4-0 lead at 3:31 of the second period. At that point, San Jose had a 17-3 advantage in shots.

"The game got out of hand with the score and we maybe had a lapse in our game due to the fact that we got down, 2-0, and they started to come hard and put pucks behind our [defense] and made it difficult for us," Bylsma said. "At times just weren't ready to get to our game and play with speed and the type of game physically that they were playing."

McKee took two minor penalties, a fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct at 7:59 of the third period. He knocked the Sharks' Logan Couture into the boards from behind. On his way to the penalty box, he picked a fight with San Jose's Jody Shelley.

"I think that's just reactionary to what was happening on the ice at the time," Bylsma said of McKee's actions.

The Sharks made it 5-0 on the ensuing power play as Manny Malhotra scored on a screened shot from the slot at 9:51.

The Penguins are leaving the Pacific time zone today, but aren't finished with the road trip. They are flying to Boston, where they play Tuesday.

"Maybe in the end this will be good for us," Goligoski said. "We can take a step back, take a look in the mirror and, hopefully, when we come out in Boston we can have a little fire lit under us."

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