The Flyers assembled at their training center in Voorhees on Tuesday to clean out.

Their season ended with Saturday's playoff loss to the Hurricanes, which completed a four-game second-round sweep for Carolina.

The Flyers, though, left the ice with a whole lot to keep their heads held up high about.

As a young team, they finally broke through into playoff contention, and better yet, they took their first-round series over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, tapping into how good they can really be before they ran into a buzzsaw of a top-seeded Carolina team.

And the home fans at Xfinity Mobile Arena saw that. They gave the team one last wave of cheers and a standing ovation before the players went down the tunnel for the last time, and before the page would fully start to turn toward what's next.

But for the first time in a long time, there's genuine hope and excitement around the Philadelphia Flyers again.

Here's some of what the players said about it as they debriefed in Voorhees on Tuesday...

Sean Couturier on where the Flyers stand after their playoff run:

"I wouldn't say it's the beginning of something. I think it's just something where we keep building, the continuation of this rebuild, if you want to say. But I think we've pushed ourselves to another level, and there's still a couple more levels to get to the ultimate goal. 

"So it's gonna be important to set the standards higher next year and push ourselves to be back in this situation again."

Garnet Hathaway on how hungry he and an otherwise young team are to come back and push further:

"I've made the playoffs six times in my career. This is the first time I've made it to the second round. I've tried expressing it to them...complacent, taken for granted, it won't happen, because I think they realize how tough it is in this league to get that opportunity. It's a lot of gratitude in that room. I think with that, it's because there's been a lot of hard work put in. But nothing that's happened this year has been lucky, and with that, it won't be taken for granted."

Travis Sanheim on what it meant as one of the longtime veterans to finally make it back:

"I think being an older guy and a guy that's kinda been through it all, there's days where you're not sure how long it's gonna take and when you're gonna get to that point. It's tough. You wanna win. You wanna play meaningful hockey, and I think to have the success that we did this year and be able to push toward the playoff spot, and win a round, means a lot, especially for the older guys.

"I'm really looking forward to what the future has with this group, and bringing along the young guys, and the way that they played down the stretch, really excites me."

Porter Martone, a key young guy, on what's next for him heading toward the summer:

"I think for me, I want to improve at everything, whether it's building my body up more, gaining more strength, working on everything on the ice, I think for me, it's just I'm never at my best. I can come in every day and get a little bit better at something.

"I got to taste the playoffs. I got to taste how hard it is, how much you really have to dig in, and how much you have to give if you want to win. That's something that I'm eager to get back to."

Rasmus Ristolainen on finally not being injured and rehabbing heading into the summer:

"Yes, thank god! First normal, somewhat normal offseason. So kinda excited about that and not needing to worry about rehabbing."

Denver Barkey, another key young guy, on whether he'll be training as a center or a winger this summer after he moved into the faceoff dot for the Carolina series:

"I train as a forward. I kind of just take pride in being a versatile player that the coach can trust to put anywhere."

Matvei Michkov, also a crucial young guy, on his evaluation of a rocky sophomore season, said by him directly:

"Hard question...no comment."

Michkov on playing with Noah Cates as his center for much of this past season, via interpreter Slava Kuznetsov:

"Plus-minus, right away, went to zero, not to minus."

Michkov on seeing the playoffs, again via Kuznetsov:

"Unreal atmosphere. A lot of kids were wearing my No. 39. I'm a little bit ashamed that I couldn't score for them in the playoffs. Thank you to the fans for being there. Without them, there would be nothing. "

Nick Seeler on finally seeing playoff hockey in Philadelphia after five years and nearly quitting the game before it:

"It's my fifth year here, and first time playing in playoffs for Philly. So you hear a lot about it, but to be able to experience it is a different animal. That was awesome.

"I think [Cam York's] series clincher was pretty special. I'll remember that forever."

Cam York on his Game 6 overtime winner to beat the Penguins:

"For sure, yeah. And I was still a little giggity about that goal, with just how cool that was and that experience, so for sure, that's something that I want to continue to work on, too, which is just getting pucks through and finding lanes and trying to score more from the blue line like that, so it was obviously a pretty special night there.

York on if he got the scoring stick framed, after he got it back from the fan who caught it in the stands:

"That's in the works...It's coming, though."

York on the Flyers' overall run:

"I was telling [Keith Jones] this, actually; it's the most fun I've had since turning pro. Just such a fun group of guys to be around, and to make the playoffs and kind of go on the run that we did, it was a special year, one that I won't forget for a while."

Dan Vladar on that last Carolina shot in Game 4 that ended the season:

"That's awful. We were able to win that game against Pittsburgh, Game 6, in overtime, and obviously that goal, I watched a lot of times, to be honest with you. And I watched [the Game 4 one] 150 times. I was getting more and more mad, and it's still in me, so it's gonna be another fire that's gonna be driving me forward.

"Obviously, goals happen, don't get me wrong. It happens every single day around the league. But for me, it's just that mentality of doing everything I can to set myself up, or give myself a better chance, to be a better goalie next year."

Tyson Foerster on a TV camera catching him saying "We'll be back" to Seeler after the handshake line with Carolina:

"I mean, we're so tight, and hopefully everyone comes back next year because we all love each other. But I believe, I really believe, we're going in the right direction. This is a hell of a year, and hopefully next year we can do the same or even better, for sure."

Owen Tippett on that last ovation from the home crowd, even though he wasn't on the ice due to injury:

"I was in the locker room, just inside the door, but I heard it. It was touching, for sure. Obviously, we've been on the other side of that, too, so to see that we had their support, and it was felt all the way right 'til the very end. It meant a lot, and the guys in the room felt it. So thank you."

Jamie Drysdale on what his favorite part of the run was:

"In real time, it felt like every kind of milestone, whatever kind of word you want to use, felt like that time, to be honest with you. So many big games down the stretch. Great start at the start of the year, being whatever our record was at home, was pretty great. Fans were electric. Clinching that playoff spot, first playoff home game, winning that series, you can go down the list. 

"Just being able to spend these times with the group that we had was really special. And I think that we're all looking forward to more times like these and continually getting more successful."

Trevor Zegras on what meant the most to him:

"Spending time with the guys, honestly. For both series, Games 1 and 2, we were on the road, and you spend a good chunk of time together at the hotel, whether you're playing cards or ping pong or going out to eat...For me, I thought that was just probably the most special part."

Travis Konecny on the Flyers becoming a destination team:

"I think it was really cool for another team to see, even though they just swept us out of the playoffs, our fans are chanting us off the ice like that. It was just a really cool moment. 

"I think guys are gonna start to realize this is a great spot to play, and hopefully we can get that back, where people want to sign here and be here. I know I do my part whenever teams practice, and I have a buddy. I'll swoop into the gym and go 'Hey! Come hang out here!' 

"So no, it's great. I think what we did was great for the players, the organization, everybody."

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