Say What - 'We Fought Really Hard'

Nazem Kadri on being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs:

"Just one of those things. Felt like we’ve been rolling, playing some good hockey. Just unfortunate we couldn’t get any help."

On the mood in the dressing room once elimination set in:

"It’s emotional, you try not to get down on yourself, down on the team. We come out, we score two goals in 10 seconds. That just sums up what kind of group we have. Over the last few weeks, we just couldn’t get a break in the out-of-town stuff. Certainly proud of how we’ve been playing."

On how he would describe this year's team:

"Character guys, good group of guys. We could have been out of this thing a month ago. Shows just the pesky attitude. I felt like if we coulda squeaked in, there mighta been something there, because we had a lot of momentum, we’ve played some great hockey against some great hockey teams. Stings, obviously, with how the Minnesota game ends. Just stuff like that sucks."

Mikael Backlund on missing the playoffs:

"Just a lot of emotions right now. Just hard. We fought really hard all season long, and to fall short at the end, it’s hard."

On the ovation from the C of Red at the end of the game:

"Special moment. They’ve cheered us on all year, been so good to us all year. Very thankful they’ve been right behind us, supporting us all year. That was an emotional moment."

On what spurred on the third-period comeback:

"We just said ‘we’re going to go out and play for each other.’ It wasn’t easy, but we said ‘go out, play for each other, for the fans.’ Just trying to get another Flames comeback, to finish off on home ice here."

MacKenzie Weegar on falling short of a playoff berth:

"I’m sure everybody was saying ‘it’s sad, disappointing’ you know, whatnot. But for me, what a helluva fight. With all the ups and downs this year - I kinda saw the jumbotron there when they said ‘thank you’ to the fans - the memories that go back. It’s such a grind all year long, it’s such a hard league to win in. This group came together at the beginning of the year right away. I’m proud of this group, the perseverance, the leadership from everybody, the belief; everybody bought in. And it says a lot, everybody came to work for one another this year, and I think that’s the most important thing. Credit to this team, we really did fight with all we had. Credit to St. Louis, they went on a run I don’t think anybody expected. Woulda been nice to get a little help in some areas, but I just look back - love this group of guys, it’s a special group - it’s just too bad we couldn’t see the damage we could have done in the playoffs."

On being proud of his group's effort and resiliency:

"It just says a lot about the culture and the identity here. I think for next year, it kinda sets us up to have higher standards, and higher expectations now. When expectations were low, we proved people wrong, we did the right thing. Nobody thought we could have done this, this year, well next year, people know that we can do this, so next year, I’m assuming that the expectations and standards are going to be higher. That’s what I want here. I want the high expectations, I want people to think that we’re going to be in the playoffs. It gets everybody in the belief again. It obviously is sad and disappointing, but there’s a lot of good things that happened this year. We took a lot of steps forward."

Ryan Huska on the Flames' playoff fate being sealed:

"I’m disappointed, and a little bit sad for the players. They worked hard over the course of the year to get themselves to this spot. I felt like they probably deserved better than where they’re going to end up being."

On going 10-2-3 over the last 15 games but falling short:

"We had markers that we felt we had to get to in order to get ourselves into the playoffs. And I think you have to give a lot of credit to St. Louis, too. Not a lot of teams go on the run that they went on to get themselves into the playoffs, and I think if they wouldn’t have had that type of run, we’re probably where we want to be right now. On our side, teams were winning. If we’re on the other side, they haven’t had quite the same success that our Conference has had, with the teams trying to push to get into the playoffs. Would have been a different story, but that’s the way it goes."

On the send-off from the C of Red:

"It was really nice. I said at the beginning of the year, the people in Calgary, they want to see hard work, they really do. And they appreciated, I think, what the guys did all year. It’s just unfortunate that we’re not able to keep going."