from Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times,

One day there will be time for the Lightning to perform the autopsy on the 2015 Stanley Cup final. On that day, the Lightning can dissect what went wrong, how the series was lost, everything it might have done differently.

But now is not that time.

Today is simply about disappointment. It's about the heartbreak of coming so close to a lifelong dream and having it ripped from its hands at the final moment. It's about anger and grief and all the rotten stages of letting a championship that was so close slip away.

The Lightning season — one of the best in franchise history and one of the most memorable in the history of Tampa Bay sports — is over. The Blackhawks ended the Lightning season Monday night with a 2-0 victory to take the best-of-seven series in an excruciatingly close six games.

When coach Jon Cooper looked in his players' eyes after it was over, he saw one thing. "They were crushed," he said.

"It's kind of hard to talk about now," Lightning goalie Ben Bishop said. "It's a terrible feeling. I don't know how to describe it.

"Listening to (the crowd celebrating) just makes me sick."

continued

from Jon Greenberg of ESPN,