ANAHEIM, Calif. — The season should be savored. The defeat should leave a bitter taste.

Within their dressing room, the Anaheim Ducks began to process it all after a Game 6 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night that ended their year in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The fact that the Ducks fell to the Golden Knights was no shock. Anaheim had a roster stocked with playoff first-timers while Vegas had 15 players who were part of the 2023 Stanley Cup championship team.

The Ducks shed their rebuilding skin in this level-up season, in which the stated goal of making the playoffs was met. What should stick with them as they head into an important offseason is how Game 6 played out. In the first 70 seconds, Mitch Marner turned defenseman Jackson LaCombe and goalie Lukáš Dostál inside out with the highlight goal of the playoffs, and the Ducks never recovered.

It’s one thing to lose what had mostly been a competitive series against an experienced team. But the Ducks went down without showing anything close to their best in a 5-1 blowout loss.

“It’s hard,” Ducks right wing Troy Terry said. “I thought this series, even some of the games we lost, we played really well in. And I think we earned the right to be in a Game 6 and try and force a Game 7, and I know everyone was excited for it. It’s a little hard to take right now.”

Marner’s goal was just the start of a nightmare first period for the Ducks, who trailed 3-0 at the end of it. The Ducks tried to rise up in the second period, but roaring comebacks — which the Ducks have become known for — are much harder to pull off in the playoffs. (Unless the opponent is the Edmonton Oilers.)

“I kind of feel like (the game) was kind of the story of the season,” said Mikael Granlund, who had the Ducks’ only Game 6 goal. “There’s a lot of good signs in this team, but at the same time, it’s never easy to lose like that.”

Only one team wins its final playoff game every season, so it’s never easy to process elimination. It doesn’t matter what round that defeat comes in. Some exits are digested better than others. The Ducks didn’t take a lot of solace in losing to the Golden Knights, but they didn’t have a hard time finding optimism. There is a strong belief that they’re now on a winning track, with the playoffs becoming a regular destination.

“In the regular season, we proved that we’re a really good team,” Terry said. “We proved we were a little inconsistent at times with all the highs and the lows. And then you get into the playoffs, and you get kind of a taste of it and just what it takes at that level. I think we learned, myself included, just how to play in those games. And that’s kind of the difference in some of these games, in the regular season even.

“You look at a team like Vegas — like learning how to manage those close games and just the experience of that and the confidence moving into next year. I know that it stings right now, but I think I speak for everyone that we’ll be hungry going into the summer.”

Terry referred to the experience as a spark for himself and the Ducks. There should be renewed drive after this taste of the postseason, the first for Anaheim in a long time. Nothing is guaranteed, and Terry repeatedly cautioned that the Ducks can’t take any season for granted, especially when so many of them enjoyed success at the NHL level for the first time.

It should motivate the young core of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke and LaCombe to want more, to continue their ascent as wildly talented individuals and to be on the winning side of handshake lines — as they were in the first round against the Oilers. And the veterans who will be back should be determined to make an even longer playoff run.

“It was fun to play in this,” Terry said. “It’s been a long time. I think I speak for a lot of guys on the team. We’re all just excited to get to work and be back next year. “

The feeling that the Ducks are only starting a run of success was echoed from team headquarters early Friday morning before exit meetings with the players.

“We started this season with a clear goal: get back to the playoffs and a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup,” Ducks president Aaron Teats and general manager Pat Verbeek said in a shared statement to fans that the team posted on X. “Through every moment of that journey, regular season and playoffs alike, your support was unwavering. Night after night, Honda Center was alive, creating one of the best atmospheres in all of sports. You gave us energy, determination, and perhaps most importantly, a true home-ice advantage.

“While a chapter of our shared journey ended last night, the growth and trajectory of this team are undeniable. And the most exciting part is that this is only the beginning. Together with you, Orange Country, we’re building one of the best young teams in the NHL. One that is not only great on ice, but also in the community we share. Thank you for being with us every step of the way. The best is yet to come.”

Are the Ducks ready to take the throne as the best team in the Pacific? The division was regularly pilloried this season — Oilers superstar Connor McDavid famously called it a “pillow fight” — but that’s where Anaheim is. Vegas will remain formidable because of its eternal win-now mandate. Edmonton is under immense pressure to win something with McDavid still under contract. The rest of the division is in flux. San Jose is on the rise, but it probably isn’t there yet. Los Angeles appears to be spinning its wheels. Seattle, Calgary and Vancouver need to be fixed.

The Ducks have gone from 59 points to 80 to 92 in the last three seasons. There is a clear path for them to take the next step and get back to the 100-point days of the mid-2010s.

“I think this team, this organization is going to be good for a long time, that’s for sure,” said Granlund, who signed a three-year free-agent contract last summer. “Now we’ve got to wait for the next season. We wanted to do something in this season. But at the same time, there’s a lot of other good teams in the league, like we saw (on Thursday). It’s not easy.”

In the Ducks’ locker room after Game 6, there was a lot to look forward to. It didn’t particularly ease the sting of a poor showing against Vegas, which is now set to face the powerful Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final, to end this season.

“I really do think we had every chance to beat that team,” Granlund said. “We played against a really good team. It was a really tight series. We all know next season we want to get better. We want to get further. But at the same time, it’s really tough to think about that far away right now. Disappointment is the only thing in my mind right now.”