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ALAMEDA, Calif. -- For a franchise with a frustrating history of post-season flops, the latest collapse sent the San Jose Sharks to a new low. The Sharks became the fourth team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games, getting overwhelmed at home in a 5-1 loss in Game 7 on Wednesday night to start a pivotal off-season for a team looking to shed the label of playoff underachievers. "We obviously dont want to hear that kind of stuff, but what are we going to say? We were on the wrong side of history tonight," defenceman Brad Stuart said. "Its tough for us to argue with anything thats said. We let ourselves down, we let the fans down, we let everybody in our organization down. Its not a good feeling. Theres not really much else you can say about it." San Jose has the second most regular-season wins in the NHL the past 10 seasons but has never made it past the conference finals. There was the first-round loss to Anaheim in 2009 after posting the best record in the league in the regular season, second-round losses to inferior teams like Edmonton in 2006 and Dallas two years later, and three defeats in the conference final when that elusive Stanley Cup seemed so close. Yet this might have been the most bitter of all, considering it came against a fierce rival and after the Sharks looked so strong in taking a 3-0 series lead. "Every year you lose is pretty low, but this one is a type of series that will rip your heart out," forward Logan Couture said. "It hurts. Its going to be a long summer thinking about this one and what we let slip away." San Jose outscored the Kings 17-8 to win the first three games but was barely competitive in the final four contests. The Sharks were outscored 16-3 over the final 3 1/2 games to join Detroit (1942), Pittsburgh (1975) and Boston (2010) as the only teams to blow a 3-0 series lead. The only bright side might be that Detroit and Boston both won it all the year after their collapses. "Its just so disappointing that we were able to go up 3-0 and not find a way to have that killer instinct, to find a way to scrape and claw and win games like they did," Couture said. "Its tough saying it, but I think the better team won the series. They were better than us." The Sharks took the day off Thursday to regroup before going through the annual routine of exit meetings and cleanup on Friday where they will start looking for answers for why they fell short once again. Defenceman Dan Boyle might leave as a free agent and forward Marty Havlat could have the final year of his contract bought out. But the biggest questions will be about the status of coach Todd McLellan and general manager Doug Wilson. While the Sharks did a good job dealing with injuries to finish tied for the fourth-most points in the regular season, they couldnt get it done in the playoffs. "Im in charge, Im responsible for the group that performs on the ice," McLellan said. "I have to accept that responsibility. When we break down the series, Im not going to throw any individuals or group of individuals under the bus, because we lost it collectively. But Im responsible for that group." The biggest issue was the lack of production from the top players in the final four games. Captain Joe Thornton, linemate Brent Burns and Couture had no points in the final four games and Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski didnt have a goal or an assist in the last three. The power-play went 0-for-15 in the final three games, including four blown chances in the second period of Game 7 when the Sharks were either ahead or tied. It added up to a second straight Game 7 loss to the Kings. "We were a lot closer last year than we were this year," McLellan said. "Were kidding ourselves if we think we were closer this year, just because it went seven games. ... It wasnt even close. We had a core group of individuals that didnt get on the score sheet. Last year was a lot closer than it was this year." Cheap Air Max Shoes From China . -- During a players meeting following the All-Star break, Jermaine ONeal promised his teammates to play the rest of the regular season like he would never play again -- because he very well might not. Cheap Nike Air Max Shoes Online . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.cheapairmaxshoesonline.com/.com) - The NFL is investigating whether the New England Patriots intentionally deflated balls during Sundays AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis. Cheap Nike Air Max Mens . The Giants chances of winning the division were dealt a serious blow by the three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Padres. The Giants open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. San Francisco is still in good shape to clinch a wild-card berth, although it dropped into a tie with Pittsburgh in the race for the top spot. Discount Nike Air Max Shoes . Now, the hottest team on the ATP are pointing their sights on qualifying for the eight-team season finals in London next November. Pospisil has now established the year-end World Tour Finals as the benchmark for a breakthrough season, with Pospisil and Sock provisionally standing ninth.OAKLAND, Calif. -- Just when it looked like the Oakland Athletics had turned things around with consecutive wins in Seattle, they put together one of their sloppiest performances of the year. Scott Kazmir allowed a two-run homer to Jake Smolinski, and shortstop Jed Lowrie made an error that led to a pair of unearned runs as the As lost 6-3 to the last-place Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. "I feel like that was a game that just doesnt happen in September in a race to make the playoffs," Kazmir said. "You just dont play like that. ... To be honest, Ive never seen anything like that before at a major league level." Oakland made two errors, threw two wild pitches and got another rough outing from Kazmir (14-9) to lose for the 15th time in 22 games. The As remained one game ahead of Kansas City for the top wild-card spot. The Mariners are a game behind the Royals for the second berth. "We just didnt look like we were ready to play tonight for whatever reason defensively," manager Bob Melvin said. "We got beat all the way around, unfortunately. I thought wed come ready to play." Nick Tepesch (5-10) allowed three runs in six innings to beat the As for the first time in six career appearances. The Rangers have won four straight for the first time since April. Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 11 chances. Smolinski provided the big offensive blow when he hit his first career home run in his first game against live pitching since breaking a bone in his left foot while fouling off a pitch on July 21. "Thats one I wont forget," Smolinski said. "It was kind of cool. It was nice to get that first hit back out of the way." The Rangers added another run in the fourth when Rougned Odor reached on a grounder to Lowrie and scored from first on Daniel Robertsons single to right. Josh Reddick threw Robertson out at second, but Odor never stopped running on the play and sccored.dddddddddddd After the As scored twice in the bottom half, the Rangers broke it open with three runs in the fifth after Lowries miscue. Lowrie threw high to first on Ryan Ruas grounder for a two-base error that allowed Adrian Beltre to score. Robinson Chirinos and Odor added RBI singles to make it 6-2. Kazmir allowed six runs -- four earned -- in 4 1-3 innings and is 0-4 with an 8.22 ERA over his past five starts. TRAINERS ROOM Rangers: OF Michael Choice will be sidelined six to eight weeks with a strained left hamstring, and GM Jon Daniels said it was unlikely Choice will play winter ball as originally planned. ... OF Shin-Soo Choo, already out for the season with an elbow injury, will have surgery on his left ankle that shouldnt impact his availability for next season. Athletics: C Stephen Vogt (sprained left ankle) hit before the game and could be available as a pinch-hitter Tuesday. UP NEXT Rangers: LHP Derek Holland (1-0) will make his fourth start of the season. The Rangers said he is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to pitch at least seven innings, allow one or fewer runs and no walks in his first three starts of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Athletics: RHP Jeff Samardzija (6-12) will face the Rangers for the first time in his career. MAULING MOSS After going 39 straight games without a homer, Brandon Moss connected for the second straight game for Oakland in one of the few bright spots of the day. "Ive been feeling a lot better lately," Moss said. "Its just a matter of swinging at good pitches and not missing good pitches." STAT OF THE DAY Kazmir retired all three batters he faced with a runner in scoring position and two outs. For the season, Kazmir has allowed just four hits in 56 at-bats (.071 batting average) in those situations. That would beat Jack Morris .082 batting average against in 1987 as the best mark in the majors since at least 1974. ' ' '