"I'm just super proud of our group for the character that we showed, and it was fun having fans back at Bridgestone," Johansen said. "Having our city come together again, it was a lot of fun. Obviously disappointing right now, but we had a blast. We had a blast playing in front of our fans, in front of the city here in Nashville."
From here, the Predators coaching staff and management will hold exit meetings with players over the coming days, and then the work will begin to prepare for another season, another chance to find success as the group works toward improving every day.
"We learned a lot about our team, particularly reestablishing an identity that is conducive to winning," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "The work ethic, the commitment, the structure needed to play with and how hard it is to win, regardless of what your talent is, getting to play at the level that takes and the work level it takes to be able to give yourself a chance to win, we did that in the regular season. I think we did that lots of times through the playoffs, but obviously we're sitting here closing out our season and losing Game 6… We have to take a step here as a group. We fought hard, we did some things, we established an identity and gave the fans something to be proud of, but there's another level we have to get to individually and as a team."
As the 2020-21 Preds departed their home ice for the final time as a group, they did so with their heads held high, sticks raised to salute their supporters who seemingly went through the highs and lows of the past year with them together.
While the loss stings, there was already some optimism to be found with even brighter days ahead.
And after plenty of dark days, the city of Nashville is making a comeback - and so is its hockey team.
"I think there's a lot of optimism around here, I really do," Ellis said. "And there should be, because from where we came from the last couple of years to the identity we have now, the way we play now; I mean, we just hung with [one of the top teams in the League], hung with them punch for punch, and we showed that we're a contending team and that we deserve to be in the playoffs for one. Four overtime games could have gone either way, a bounce here, bounce there; obviously we're done tonight, but unbelievably proud of this group and everything looks good around here."