With the sprint for Olympic gold over, the marathon run for the Stanley Cup begins this week with the opening round of the National Hockey League playoffs.

While the Sochi Games was a two-week Canadian gold rush, the quest for the Stanley Cup is an ultimate test of endurance requiring the eventual champion to persevere through four best-of-seven series before lifting the NHL's top prize.

The first round gets underway on Wednesday in what will be as much a battle of survival as a sporting contest for the 16 teams that qualified after an 82-game regular season.