What a difference a year makes. 

Instead of being full of fans in blue with thunder sticks in early April, Amalie Arena is empty and silent. 

And so was the Lightning dressing room one day after their last regular season game- with the exception of packed to-go bags of gear and disappointed players lamenting the early end to the 2016-17 season.

"It's really sad for me, personally," restricted free agent forward Ondrej Palat said.  "When you see the playoffs starting and we're done.  So it's just frustrating."

The Tampa Bay Lightning's offseason begins a month and a half earlier than last year.

The Bolts finished with 94 points, just three fewer than their 2016 team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals, but they won't be in the playoffs.

"It's not a fun time," restricted free agent center Tyler Johnson said.  "It's not where we want to be.  We want to be in the playoffs where the fun hockey is.  And now, we're going to be even more motivated for next year."

Last year, the Tampa Bay Lightning weren't eliminated until May 26, when they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins on the road in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

Two years ago, the Bolts played through June 15's Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final before falling at Chicago to end the season.

This year, they'll be watching the playoffs from home in their entirety.

"Over the last two years, we’ve brought families together and friends," head coach Jon Cooper said.  "And our watch parties.  And it’s all kind of been part of our culture.  And not to have it this year is tough to swallow."

The Bolts can look in the mirror knowing they fought to the end, getting points in nine of their last 10 games to mount a late charge to get into the postseason.

Young players stepped up, but it wasn't enough to erase an huge hole the Lightning dug for themselves early in the season.

The Bolts ended up missing the playoffs by just one point.

"(Cooper) believed in the group that we could make a good run," All-Star defenseman Victor Hedman said.  "And we sure did.  We came up short, which is really disappointing.  But like I said earlier- a lot of positives."

"You come down and you're out two points because you had a bad night," captain Steven Stamkos said.  "You just shrug it off at the time.  But it comes back to bite you.  But I think we learned our lesson this year."

Stamos, who has been out of action since November 15 with a knee injury, says he may not have been healthy enough to return for the playoffs even if they Lightning had made it in.

Now, at least Stammer (and the rest of the team, for that matter) will get a full offseason of rest and recovery to prepare for a potential run at the Cup in 2018.