The Stanley Cup playoffs are an arduous journey — two long months of blood, sweat, and tears that come to a conclusion when one team lifts Lord Stanley’s cherished chalice in euphoria. But while the celebration provides a tremendous payoff for the winners and their loyal fans, the journey to get there is what makes the experience so special. The stories that come out of the annual playoff odyssey are what define the NHL experience best.

There are heroes and villains, roles defined partly by the players’ actions and partly by the sweater they pull over their heads for each game. Rangers agitator Sean Avery’s antics have made him public enemy no. 1 for Devils fans during round one. By causing the league to literally reinterpret the rules in midstream, Avery has taken his role to new heights, forever raising the bar beyond the heights set previously by the likes of Esa Tikkanen and Claude Lemieux.

But amazingly, the booing Avery receives at the Prudential Center pales in comparison to the vehement disgust shown by Montreal Canadiens fans toward dignified Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. That vitriol, of course, has far more to do with the sweater Chara wears than anything he’s done on the ice.

And to make matters worse for the Bruins’ captain, the booing didn’t relent for the games played in Boston. Thousands of Canadiens fans made the trek to Boston for games three and four of that first-round series, the sea of “bleu, blanc, et rouge” providing good reason to doubt the renowned loyalty of Boston’s supposedly die-hard sports fans.

Of course, hockey has long been an emotional trigger point for the Quebecois. Back in 1955, Maurice “Rocket” Richard was given a lengthy suspension for a violent attack on a linesman, and it triggered a riot that many have linked to the birth of Quebec nationalism and the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.

Canadiens fans are also giddy about their young goaltender, Carey Price, who, rising to fame meteorically (and perhaps prematurely), is inspiring comparisons to previous legends Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. Price played his first professional game (for the Habs’ AHL affiliate in Hamilton) on April 13, 2007, then proceeded to backstop the team all the way to the Calder Cup championship.

This year, he made his NHL debut in Pittsburgh against the Penguins — just as Dryden and Roy once did — and got the victory. With the deadline-day trade of Cristobal Huet to the Washington Capitals, Price officially took over the starting role for good. Against the Bruins, he’s been a rock between the pipes, posting an impressive shutout on Tuesday night to put the Habs up 3–1 in the series, and it would seem that the sky is the limit for the talented young netminder.

For Rangers rookie Marc Staal, the early part of the playoff journey hasn’t been quite as charmed; he was technically the goat in the Blueshirts’ game three loss, when John Madden’s game-winning overtime goal banked off his skate.

But Rangers head coach Tom Renney rightly showed unwavering confidence in the stoic 21-year-old, and Staal stepped up with aplomb in game four. His total ice time of 23 minutes, 30 seconds (second-most behind Michal Rozsival) was well-earned, and he put the cherry on top of the performance by firing the game-winning goal past Martin Brodeur with barely more than three minutes remaining in the third period. It was Staal’s first-ever playoff goal, but it seems quite certain that it won’t be his last.

While Staal only had to wait three days for his redemption, it usually comes more slowly for others. Last spring, Sidney Crosby’s playoff debut with the Penguins didn’t go particularly well, as they were trounced 4–1 in their first round series against the Ottawa Senators. But this time around, the Pens turned the tables, sweeping the reeling Senators to move on to the second round.

The lessons learned in last spring’s loss no doubt hurt, but the way the Pens approached the series this time around proved that the best learning comes from one’s own mistakes. And if Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals don’t get past the Philadelphia Flyers in their first-round series, they can take solace in knowing that for all but a rarefied few — Dryden and Roy come immediately to mind — failure is a necessary step in the odyssey.

But perhaps the most compelling story line to emerge yet in these playoffs is that of Detroit Red Wings fan favorite Darren McCarty. His life has spiraled out of control during the past few years, a combination of divorce, substance abuse, and bankruptcy bringing his hockey career to a grinding halt. McCarty was given a second chance by the Wings in January, when he signed a professional tryout contract with their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins; and he made the most of the opportunity, battling his way back to the NHL to play for the President’s Trophy winners.

In game two of the Wings’ first-round series against the Nashville Predators, McCarty scored the opening goal for the Wings, setting off a riotous celebration at Joe Louis Arena. While the emergence of star youngsters such as Price and Staal provides a nice thrill, nothing quite compares with a Rocky-esque comeback like the one the likable McCarty pulled off.

Of course, those Predators are a story in and of themselves, their roster severely depleted by an off-season fire sale, and their long-term future in Nashville still in serious doubt. But they persevered, demonstrating tremendous heart in battling their way back to the postseason, where they’ve managed to fight against the Wings in a stalemate through the series’ first four games.

To think, all of these great story lines — and plenty more that haven’t been mentioned — and we’re only a little more than one week into what is looking to be a magnificent journey. As the temperatures rise outside, the energy levels will increase exponentially on the ice. When the tournament finally ends in June, the last team standing will have left everything they have on the ice, sacrificing their bodies and every ounce of their energy to get their names engraved on the Cup for perpetuity. This, folks, is reality television at its finest. You don’t want to miss it.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.