"It's tough," Rinne said. "I mean, the game just ended and your season is done with. At the same time, I want to congratulate the Dallas Stars. They played well throughout the series, and it was a good series. For us, we've got to look back on it, learn from it and move forward."
From here, the Predators will return home to Nashville, clean out their lockers and say their final goodbyes for the summer over the coming days.
It's even tougher when those goodbyes come in late April, signifying the unaccomplished goal the group had set for themselves back in the fall.
All that's left to do is think of what might have been - and dream of what's still to come.
"Around this room, you're going to have nothing but love for every single guy in here, and a full belief in what we're capable of," Watson said. "We play a really hard sport, and no matter how things are set up in a series, one team advances and one team doesn't… I love everybody in here, and that's I think the sentiment that you would hear from every single guy."
"I love this team, love my teammates," Rinne said. "I feel like we have a really strong group… and I love this group. I feel like we have potential, we just have to put it out there and show it to the people."