As the Anaheim Ducks prepare to host the http://www.officialhockeyco.com/cam-atkinson-jersey-c-1_132_137.html Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, the look-in-the-mirror aspect of the contest isn't lost on either captain."I don't think it's gone as planned for both teams," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said Tuesday evening.Both popular preseason picks to go all the way, neither team has met expectations just yet."They're a great team,'' Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said Tuesday morning, his team having lost 5-0 in Tampa back on Nov. 21."The one thing I do know is that when you Clark Gillies Kids Jersey go to the playoffs and you play late into them, it's not always easy to get going the next year and it's a lot of hockey," Getzlaf said of the Lightning, a Stanley Cup finalist last season. "If you've played a lot of hockey, the following year could be a tough start. But I think, much like us, I think they'll be there at the end of the year, they'll be in the playoffs and they're going to be a tough team to contend with. It'll be a good test for us Wednesday night.''The Ducks are four points out of a playoff spot in the West; the Lightning are two points out in the East. It's not where either team should be."Here we are 25 games in, we keep saying we'll come out of it, but we're still a .500 team right now entering this California road trip, where there's not much room left for error," said Stamkos of his 11-11-3 club. "There's not as much hockey left as you think.''There's a sense of urgency on each side. The Lightning won three straight from Nov. 19-25 but then dropped a pair of games last weekend.The Ducks played perhaps their most complete Jean Beliveau Womens Jersey game of the season Monday while trouncing the Vancouver Canucks 4-0. It came on the heels of a pretty good effort against the Chicago Blackhawks on Black Friday, one in which Anaheim coughed up a late 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 in overtime.It's hard to fathom either of these talented clubs not being in the playoffs by April, but we've also been saying for two months that their slow starts are hard to fathom.One explanation: Contending teams that fall just short the previous season try to resume their form the following season. For Tampa, that's the Cup finals; for Anaheim, it's Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.It doesn't always work that way, of course. One http://www.officialhockeyco.com/bobby-smith-jersey-c-1_142_148.html season doesn't simply flow into the other. Teams have to re-engineer their identity and chemistry and earn their way back.
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