Their fairytale season lasted longer than almost anybody expected.
No matter, the Calgary Flames were wearing long faces as they cleaned out their lockers and said their goodbyes Tuesday at the Saddledome.
“It’s tough when you lose,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving. “There’s plenty of lessons that our team learned, and, as I was saying to the players, those are hard lessons.
“When you’re going through them, you don’t smile and say, ‘Jeez, it was a great education I got.’
“But when we look back, what I take from it is the future is very bright here.