Year after year, the San Jose Sharks are christened as a favorite to compete for the Stanley Cup. But year after year they disappoint and wind up knocked out of the playoffs in some embarrassing manner. The team has only made the Conference finals three times in its history but has been eliminated in rather woeful manners each time. In 2003-04, the team was bounced by a lower seeded Calgary Flames side in six games. In 2009-10, the team was swept out of the Conference finals by the Chicago Blackhawks and a year later the Vancouver Canucks took them down in five games. But the playoff embarrassment does not end there. Perhaps the team's biggest fail (before this season) took place in 2008-09, when it won the President's trophy but was eliminated in the first round by the Anaheim Ducks; Anaheim won the first two games in San Jose and took three wins in the first four games of the series.

Despite these past failures, nothing could have set up Sharks fans for what took place in 2013-14 when San Jose epitomized its choking label in the worst way. After dominating the Los Angeles Kings in the first three games, the team wilted and became the fifth professional sports team ever (and the fourth NHL side) to be eliminated from a series after blowing a 3-0 lead. Let us take a look at the highs and lows of this team's season.

Highs

When you end your year the way the Sharks did, it is hard to find many positives. And yet, they exist. Joe Pavelski put up a career-high 41 goals throughout the season while young netminder Alex Stalock established himself as a potential franchise goalie with a .932 save percentage in 24 games. 

The Sharks opened the season in fine form with wins in their first six games and victories in eight of their first nine; the lone defeat in this run was in the shootout. The team managed to win 10 of 13 games in October and picked up points in 12 of those games. While November got off to a slow start with no wins in the first four games, the Sharks won seven of the final eight games in the month. The team managed a four-game winning streak in December and a six-game winning streak in January; March proved to be another brilliant month for the Sharks as they won seven of their first eight in the month and picked up points in 12 of the first 13 games that month. For their hard work, the team wound up finishing second in the division.

Lows

The blown series lead is obviously the most painful situation for this team to endure after choking year after year in the post season. But that was not the only issue for San Jose in 2013-14. The goaltending situation became rather questionable as starter Antti Niemi struggled throughout the year and Stalock started getting more attention. Niemi finished the year with a below-average .913 save percentage and struggled in the final few games of the playoffs where he wound up with a sub .900 save percentage.

Season MVP

Joe Pavelski was terrific for the team and scored 41 goals and 79 points. He had a tremendous 18.2 shooting percentage (his career average is 11.1) and scored three game winners for the team. His previous career high in goals was 31 (which he achieved in 2011-12) and his previous high in points was 66, also from 2011-12.

Elimination Scapegoat

After conceding eight goals in the opening three games, the team allowed a total of 18 goals in the final four. Both the LA Kings and Sharks had offensive stars that could score, but the real question was which side would win the goaltending battle. Niemi was a huge question mark heading into the series and early on he rose to the occasion and shut down the Kings while his team scored a plethora of goals on shaky Jonathan Quick. But in the final few matches the tide turned and Niemi was not able to ride it any longer. He had a horrid .849 save percentage in the final three games of the series after stopping 91.2 percent of the shots he faced in the first three games of the series. Inversely, Quick only stopped 85.1 percent of the shots he faced in the first three games but stopped an outstanding 96.2 percent of the shots he faced in the final four games of the series. He also faced 40 shots in three games and 30 or more in five of the seven games. Niemi never faced 40 shots the entire series and only had to stop 30 or more attempts in Games 1 and 3.

For reference, Stalock stopped 92.9 percent of the shots he faced in his lone appearance in Game 6 despite allowing four goals. Did the coaching staff go with the wrong man in net? Probably.