The Blackhawks lost their final eight games of the season. Chicago clinched the top seed in the Western Conference on an off day April 1 and did not win another game, losing the final four of regular season, and the four against the Predators.
Blackhawks players said they will use the offseason to recover physically and recharge mentally. Two days after the sweep, the result stung for Chicago, which scored three goals in the four games.
"We never grabbed the momentum at all in that series, and it's a number of little things that led to one major failure," said captain Jonathan Toews, who had one goal in the series, as did right wing Patrick Kane. "We'll look at it that way, as individuals, more psychologically than anything. [We'll] think about how bad that feels and just how disappointing it is to have a great season and accomplish all our goals and get home ice, get to the postseason, and getting to that time of year when everyone wants to play and not delivering.
"In that regard, we've got a little soul-searching to do and it starts with myself."
The Blackhawks made similar comments last year after losing to the St. Louis Blues in seven games, but defenseman Brent Seabrook said this was different.
"We didn't start great against the Blues, but we gave them everything we had and we made it a series," Seabrook said. "It was a bounce here and a bounce there that didn't go our way, and I think you can definitely be more proud of going out that way than going out against Nashville in four straight, in a series that we didn't even show up in.
"We lost to a good team in St. Louis last year, but at least we showed them who we were. This year, we didn't do anything like that."