Vegas went 10-2-0 while scoring 45 goals in its first 12 postseason games last season, then 2-6 while scoring 12 goals in its last eight despite outshooting the opposition 293-172.
McCrimmon and DeBoer said they didn't want to overreact. The Golden Knights ran into two hot goalies: Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks and Anton Khudobin of the Dallas Stars.
That said, they spent too much time on the outside, and they believe players already on the roster can make changes.
"You're not just developing young players," said DeBoer, who took over Jan. 15 and is putting his stamp on the team. "I believe you can develop veteran guys too to add layers to their game in order to win, and there's guys there that I'm excited about conversations going forward on what they learned in getting as far as we did and losing and what they're prepared to do to add layers to their game to get us over the hump."