The Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks could correctly be called the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup in the 2012 NHL playoffs.

Despite being the No. 4 seed in the East, the Penguins were the top choice in the final Bovada wager ranking at 4-to-1. The Canucks were second choice, along with the New York Rangers, at 11-to-1.

Now, both teams are facing new and significantly longer odds: The probability that they can rally to win first-round playoff series after dropping the first two games on home ice.

[ Related: Rookie Sean Couturier talks like a teenager, plays like an old pro ]

They're both fighting history. The Philadelphia Flyers have never lost a series in which they've started 2-0 — although starting 3-1 is a different story. The Canucks have never lost the first two games of a series that started in Vancouver, and they've never won a series in which they lost the first two games.

Catch up on Penguins/Flyers here, and Canucks/Kings here.

To paraphrase the great the David Byrne: "Well, how did we get here?"

For the Canucks, their Game 2 loss against the Los Angeles Kings was still an improved effort: 48 shots on goal, 22 better than in Game 1, and better play overall 5-on-5, especially off the start.

Which is great and all, but not when you're getting your buttocks handed to you on special teams. From Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun:

The Kings scored twice short-handed and once on the power play. And their other goal was from power-play pressure. Los Angeles is 3-for-12 in the series with the man-advantage. Vancouver is 0-for-10, minus the killer short-handed goals it surrendered Friday. Of course, [Daniel] Sedin, the concussed winger who led the NHL in scoring last season, is brutally missed on the power play. But four goals in two playoff games, though meagre, is not an offensive crisis by post-season standards. It's the eight goals against that is more of a concern. L.A. was 29th in scoring this season. Vancouver was fourth in goals-against. Nobody expected the problems to be in the Canucks' zone. The fact that the Kings' franchise lost the only series it ever led 2-0 is inconsequential because it occurred in 1968 and we're pretty sure there was still a "rover" in the lineup back then.

Daniel Sedin's absence is, of course, the biggest mitigating factor here. The Canucks were second in the NHL with 57 power-play goals and Sedin had 10 of them.

Barring his return for Game 3 — at this point, who knows if his recovery will be "accelerated" by a desperate team — the next big question is Roberto Luongo or Cory Schneider in Los Angeles.

From Nucks Misconduct:

I thought Roberto Luongo had an OK game for 4 goals against. He made the first save on Kopitar, and then had his guys falling around when the puck fell to Brown. Breakaways are always tough. Its a shame on a night where the Canucks were involved and attacking, that 3 of those 4 goals were a direct result of scrambled play that was not handled well. That 4th goal, I lay at his feet a little less than the three guys that got outworked by Lewis. But, for all of that, I think you will see Cory Schneider for Game Three. Not because Luongo was bad, because he was not. He had some huge saves to keep his team in it at several points in the game. The media trolls like Damien Cox will make it out to be so when the announcement is made, and that is a predictable shame ( at what passes for unbiased...if they are going to cheer for one game or the other, why can't frigging bloggers do their silly self important jobs? I though national media members were paid to be a bit less truculent. My mistake ), but the main reason I think you see Schneider in Game Three is because it will hopefully jolt the team. That's my take on what AV's thought process would be, and I am just guessing of course.

It's not a terrible guess. Especially when you consider that, down 2-0 to the No. 8 seed after playing for the Stanley Cup last June, Alain Vigneault is now coaching for his job.

Story continues