Where did it all go wrong for these Conference Final losers?

You have to hand it to the Bolts — they were a strong contender right up until the end. And frankly, the whole series they played against the Washington Capitals could have gone either way. (Heck, the home team didn't win a single tilt through Game 4.) But in the end, Washington emerged as the hungrier squad. Although the Bolts' special teams were able to get the job done, their five-on-five game struggled mightily. To top it off, stars like Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov — who effectively led the charge for Tamp Bay from the start of the regular season into postseason play — were visibly absent for parts of the series. And when it came down to those pivotal final two games, Washington used their physicality to wrestle Tampa Bay into submission. (Oh, and Braden Holtby brought his A-game. Hard to score on a guy who guards the crease the way he did in Game 7.)

It is, without a doubt, a disappointing end for the Lightning, who had a dominant bounce-back campaign in 2018. But after taking a couple of days to let the loss sink in, Tampa Bay has to look to the future. It's now up to general manager Steve Yzerman to look at what aspects of the team need a makeover during the offseason. Just don't expect the Bolts to be making big changes to their already deep roster — Yzerman seems pretty happy with the team he has in front of him. "It's really difficult to win the Stanley Cup, and if you're going to measure every year strictly on it's a failure if we win or not, I don't think I look at it that way," Yzerman told ABC Action News in Tampa Bay.

Winnipeg Jets

Ahead of the Western Conference Final, Yardbarker predicted that Winnipeg's stout defense could be the key to stopping Las Vegas' Cinderella run. And, after a convincing Game 1 victory, that looked like it could be the case. Then, VGK figured Winnipeg out, and the Jets were eliminated after the longest playoff run in the franchise's history. The Jets' forward attack couldn't sustain momentum, and that tough defense was unable to contain the likes of William Karlsson and Vegas' crushing offense. It didn't help that netminder Connor Hellebuyck — who was a key to Winnipeg making it as far as they did in the playoffs — started to show cracks in his game. (I wouldn't say he was terrible, but he sure as heck didn't play the way Marc-Andre Fleury did at the other end of the ice.)

So what's a team to do after their best postseason run is cut off one series short of the Stanley Cup Final? It's time to rest, and look at what pieces of the roster they can bring back next season. As NHL.com aptly points out , inking deals for Hellebuyck and mid-season acquisition Paul Stastny are major matters of business to tend to as their offseason gets under way.