"Being back at the site of their greatest achievement this season could have served as inspiration for quite a few of the Ducks on Wednesday night against the Vancouver Canucks.

But the Ducks as a whole looked resigned to their fate and a 4-1 loss at General Motors Place only meant that this is now a group that's about to play out the string in what's been a bitterly disappointing season.

The Ducks (34-31-8) had to win out and consecutive losses combined with eighth-place Detroit winning again, now leave them 11 points out of a playoff spot with nine games to go.

"A lot of guys have hearts and heads in the right place," forward Bobby Ryan said. "When things that we need to help us don't happen, it does compound. It's a trickle effect when you see the teams around us getting things done and we're not.

"Everybody tries to do it themselves and that's not really the way we can do it."

The sad fact is the best moment this season for players like Ryan along with Scott Niedemayer, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry didn't come with the Ducks but with the United States and Canada in bringing home Olympic silver and gold."