The NHL playoffs begin Wednesday night as 16 teams start the quest for the Stanley Cup. Here are the five most compelling storylines in the first round of playoff action.

1. Can the Washington Capitals prevail?

There’s no skirting the high expectations for the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Alex Ovechkin reached the 50-goal milestone for the seventh time in his career and goaltender Braden Holtby has emerged a Vezina Trophy favorite. With their offense firing, hot goal tending and some gritty leadership from two Stanley Cup-winning veterans (Mike Richards and Justin Williams) added to the mix, there’s nothing standing in their way, on paper at least.

The Capitals have a checkered playoff history and haven’t been able to advance past the second round in the playoffs since 1998. Even though they rolled into the postseason seemingly on neutral, they should be poised to flip the switch for playoff success. For the Capitals, anything less than reaching the Cup Final would be classified as an epic collapse.

2. Jaromir Jagr and the Florida Panthers

The Panthers will start the postseason Thursday night against the New York Islanders at BB&T Center, for what will be Jaromir Jagr’s 203 playoff game. If that sounds like an insane stat, it’s because it is. At 44, Jagr has had an incredible resurgence with the Panthers this season, helping lead their young, talented crop of players, like center Aleksander Barkov and defenseman Aaron Ekblad,
to the postseason.

Plus, chances are good they have the weirdest locker room in the NHL. After all, their most prized position seems to be a blue sweatshirt with Kevin Spacey’s head floating in space. Whatever they’re doing down there, it’s working.

3. Do the Blackhawks have enough left for back-to-back Cup wins?

The defending Stanley Cup champions entered the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference and have won the Cup three times in the past six years. That’s a lot of hockey that they’ve played. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. It takes a lot of energy (physical and mental) to accomplish the feat two years in a row and the only team to have done that recently is the Detroit Red Wings in 1997-98.

Hockey is brutal on the body and the mind and it remains to be seen if the Blackhawks, fatigued as they already are, have the drive and fortitude required for another Cup run. Spoiler alert: they probably don’t.

4. Watch out for Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins picked the perfect time to get hot. They’ve won 14 out of their last 16 games and are on an offensive scoring streak.

Injured goalie Marc-André Fleury returned to practice on Monday and will be a game time decision for Wednesday’s first game against the New York Rangers, but the Penguins have to feel good going into the series. Many people wrote off the Penguins after a sluggish start, but they’ve finally come together under a new coach at the exact right time. They could easily play spoiler to the Capitals’ chances.

5. Will the Dallas Stars offense be enough?

The Stars are the top team in the Western Conference and lead the league in scoring with 265 goals. The Stars are bucking the trend of defensive minded hockey and while that makes for fun games, it could prove problematic in the playoffs. They’ve been criticized for their spotty defense and lackluster goal tending from Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi. Plus, forward Tyler Seguin suffered a cut to his Achilles tendon and is questionable for the team’s first round matchup against the Wild. Even with him out of the line up, the Stars could potentially go far. And once Seguin and Benn are reunited on the ice, watch out.