Heavy emotions emanated from the Colorado Avalanche after a season-ending 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

No one imagined the Avs would go out in a sweep — not after a franchise record-setting President’s Trophy-winning regular season.

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“Right now, it’s heartbreak, disappointment, frustration, a lot of different things. I don’t think there was any quit in the group. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Ran into a good team, a good goalie. We weren’t able to get it done. It sucks,” Brock Nelson said.

Colorado’s captain felt similarly after the game, scoring the only goal in the loss. However, he expressed hope for next season.

“There’s a lot of good in there, but at the end of the day, they’re moving on, and we’re not,” Gabriel Landeskog said. “Whether that’s in four games or seven games, hurts just as much. Nonetheless, proud of the guys in here. It’s been a heck of a year, and we’ll be back.”

Avalanche players have honest responses with a hint of anger

Logan O’Connor was more poignant with his answers. He held himself and his team accountable for the debacle against the Golden Knights.

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“Disappointed, humiliated. I think to a man, just weren’t good enough, not a single guy was the whole entire series. A team’s going to make you pay. I think we let down coaches, each other, fans, management. It’s on us as players to be far better than we were. The results speak for itself. Just tons, lot of disappointment right now,” the 29-year-old forward said.

“At the end of the day, the regular season means nothing. The second the playoffs start, the only thing a good regular season gets you is home ice, in our case, and we squandered that opportunity against this team, dropping two early in the series. It was an uphill battle from there. We still had tons of belief in the locker room, but at the end of the day, just every single guy came up short. That’s the bottom line.

“I think it just feels like a waste, to be honest. You go 82 games, you get tons of great pieces, feel as though you have a team that can do something special. … We said it in training camp, it’s Cup or bust for us. Regardless of where you fall short, we fell super short of that goal.”

Mackenzie Blackwood started Game 4, his third start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He had an outstanding performance, which added to the frustration of the loss.

“It’s frustrating. It sucks. I thought it was good enough to probably get the win. It didn’t work out that way. No one likes to lose. It sucks.

“It’s freaking hard not to play for so long and come into a big game, but I just said f— it and go play the best I can and give them the best chance to win and just battle,” Blackwood said.

Avs coach Jared Bednar proud of team, disappointed with how season ended

After earning a franchise-record high of 121 points in the regular season, the Avalanche looked destined for its fourth Stanley Cup. But that hope ended in four straight games at the hands of the Golden Knights and an Avs meltdown.

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“You start training camp, you have lofty goals, you’re putting together a team that you feel that can accomplish those goals. Go through the regular season, which is incredible, and you have the belief and the hope you can accomplish those goals grows.

“Win a round, and it keeps building. Win another round, and it keeps building. So the further you go, the closer you get to accomplishing that. Then losing swipes it all away in an instant. It’s hard to deal with. I have a lot of respect for our guys and the season they had. It’s not easy to win in this League. It’s not easy through the regular season, and in the playoffs, it can become more and more difficult as you move on. But the closer you get, the more hope you have that you can accomplish it. When you don’t, it’s hard to deal with. It takes time. But I’ll say this, from day one our guys gave us everything they got, and they played hard,” Bednar said.

Press conferences with GM Chris MacFarland and possibly president of hockey operations Joe Sakic are expected within the next few days. Next steps after the embarrassing postseason exit will be coming soon.