"It's frustrating," Trenin said. "It didn't go our way. I'm proud of everybody. We played as hard as we could. It's crazy how hard it is to play and win the game. Everything we did wasn't enough."
"Obviously, we wanted more in the playoffs," Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. "If you look at the regular season, there were a lot of guys that performed really well and broke their personal highs. If you could look back at training camp, there weren't many [who] thought we would be in a playoff position. We certainly did that and we're really proud and happy over that. But once you get [to the playoffs], you want more."
Colorado got the game's first goal less than two minutes into the contest when Andre Burakovsky's shot beat Ingram top shelf, but before the opening period was out, Trenin potted his first of the night to even the score.
Cale Makar gave the Avalanche the lead once more over halfway through the second stanza when his shot from the point found its way through traffic, but again, Trenin found twine and tied the game before the middle frame was complete.
Forsberg gave the Preds their first lead of the series when he tapped home a feed from Ekholm in tight early in the third period, but that proved to be Nashville's last goal of the night. Devon Toews tied the game soon after, and Valeri Nichushkin scored what proved to be the game-winner before Nathan MacKinnon sealed the series with an empty-netter as the Predators tried to push with the extra attacker.
"I thought our guys really played a good game tonight, and it was right there," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "[Colorado] wound up scoring, but we talked about building off of Game 3 and finding a way to be able to get one here tonight. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do it, but I think our guys had a hard-fought game. Unfortunately, tonight things didn't go the way we wanted."
"You never want to go out 4-0, and it's tough right now," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "I thought our two home games we played a lot better, but we didn't get it done. We didn't get a win, so it's definitely disappointing going out 4-0."
The past seven-plus months brought about more wins, records and memorable moments than just about anyone thought possible, and while there will be time for reflection in the days, weeks and months ahead, the Predators were left wanting more on Monday night.
For now, the individuals who helped forge a season that showed so much promise were instead left searching for answers after it all came to an end sooner than anyone would have hoped.
"It's empty," Ekholm said of the feeling. "You play in this League for over 10-plus years now, and this is where you don't want to be, obviously. I've been in it way too many times. You make the playoffs, and you never know how many chances you'll get. Getting older in this League, hopefully we have a lot of young guys that have a bright future and we'll keep growing as a team, but right now it's hard to put words on it. It's empty and it's tough."
"We didn't get a lot of credit when the season started, and not a lot of people picked us to be in the playoffs," Josi said. "And I think the one thing I'm proud of with this team is that we worked hard all year. Even if games didn't go our way, the work ethic was always there. We're definitely a really tight group and play for each other and work for each other. We played one of the best teams in the League in the playoffs, and I think we saw how much work we have to do. But I think the one thing you can say about this team is that we worked all year, and I think we can be proud of that."
