WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins begin their much-anticipated second-round series Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET at the Verizon Center. Both teams are chock-a-block with talent and experience, and both are playing an extremely high level. Expect some fireworks. Here’s what to watch for in Game 1:

The Capitals are hoping to have a full roster at their disposal. Both Karl Alzner and Brooks Orpik skated Thursday morning at the team’s practice facility, and Washington coach Barry Trotz is hopeful that they’ll be good to go.

Alzner looks to be more certain than Orpik, who has not played since being leveled by Flyers forward Ryan White in Game 3 of the first round. “Looks like [a] good chance" that Alzner -- who did not miss any playing time but was nursing some minor injuries -- will play, Trotz said Thursday morning.

The Penguins, meanwhile, are healthy outside of the ongoing issues confronting netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who is still recovering from a concussion he suffered on March 30 against Nashville. Fleury did not dress at all during the first round and there is no timetable for his return.

Both teams rang up eight power-play goals during the first round, and the Penguins’ power play is operating at an insane 38.1 percent rate of efficiency. The Caps are no slouches, either, and sit at 29.6 percent efficiency.

Both coaches will look to continue the strong penalty killing that marked their respective teams' play in the first round. The Caps allowed just one power play goal on 24 attempts in their six-game ouster of Philadelphia, while the Pens surrendered two goals on 19 attempts. But only once did Pittsburgh give up a 5-on-4 goal -- and that was late in Game 5, which the Pens had comfortably in hand.

“They have multiple weapons and they're probably a little different than Philly's power play,” Trotz said.

Patric Hornqvist is a strong player in front of the net for Pittsburgh, but the Penguins have other ways of making their power play successful.

“They’ll give us multiple types of looks, I'm sure," Trotz said. "And we'll have to adjust as they go along."

To no one’s surprise, Washington netminder Braden Holtby was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy on Wednesday afternoon. The 26-year-old is expected to carry home the hardware at the league’s awards event in Las Vegas in June. Holtby has built an impressive playoff resume, tying Olie Kolzig for the franchise lead in postseason wins, at 20, with his victory over Philadelphia in Game 6 on Sunday. In those 20 playoffs victories, he has allowed one or fewer goals 17 times.

Holtby will have his hands full with a Pittsburgh offense that shredded former Vezina winner Henrik Lundqvist in the first round. The Penguins averaged a league-best 4.20 goals per game.

Holtby has an eye-popping .968 save percentage entering the second round. Does that make his matchup against 21-year-old rookie Matt Murray, who will mind the Pittsburgh goal, a complete mismatch? Not quite. Murray only played in three games during the first round, but was solid and has a .955 save percentage of his own.

Of course both goalies are going to see a different kind of offense than the Flyers and Rangers threw at them in the first round, so don’t expect those gaudy save percentage numbers to hold too much longer.

“A little break between series was kind of perfect,” Holtby said Thursday. “Enough to rest, but not enough to get your mind completely away from the game. It’s good we’re still focused in here. We’re prepared to play a very good team and get this started on a good note.”

It’s probably not a surprise, given the skill set the Capitals possess, but they have been impressive this spring at keeping the puck away from their net while averaging 31 shots per game on opposing goaltenders. Washington allowed just 25.8 shots per game in the first round -- second-fewest in the NHL. They out-shot the Flyers 130-91 in the second and third periods of the first round.

Alex Ovechkin leads all players on both teams with 29 shots on goal.

“We’ve got to do our best to defend hard against them when they have the puck,” said Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan on Thursday. “And the more pressure we can put on them to spend time in their end zone and spend energy defending our team, that’s when our team’s at its best,” he added.

Don’t look for Sullivan to chase line matchups, though -- especially in Games 1 and 2, when he will not have the luxury of last change.