“It’s tough to describe in the moment.”

How was Morgan Rielly supposed to feel? He genuinely didn’t know. He’d never been in this situation before as an NHLer.

Does it constitute progress if you lose…differently? And with greater spirit?

Those were possible questions hanging over the Toronto Maple Leafs as they staggered off the ice following their season-ending overtime defeat to the Florida Panthers Friday. What, exactly, did this season represent in the end? How will their performance on their way out be remembered?

For 55 minutes and 33 seconds, Friday’s Game 5 didn’t look like anything fresh. It was actually unfolding like a classic session of Leafs Elimination Game Karaoke. They were playing all the old favorites.

There was the inexplicably flat and hesitant start at home from a team trailing 3-1 in the series, waiting a split second too long to put every puck on net, overpassing on the power play.

There were the deflating first-period goals goaltender Joseph Woll probably should have stopped in an elimination game, a trickler through his arm on an Aaron Ekblad shot followed by a bad-angle one-timer from Carter Verhaeghe, turning the building morgue-quiet as the Leafs fell behind 2-0.