Dmitry Orlov scoring on Sergei Bobrovsky is a popular clip at a bar in their hometown in southwestern Siberia.

”They always show my goal to him Jacoby Brissett Jersey ,” Orlov said. ”My friends said that.”

Orlov and Bobrovsky are good friends going back to their time growing up together and have played together on the Russian national team with Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Artemi Panarin. They’re split on opposite sides of a first-round series between Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Orlov’s Washington Capitals and Bobrovsky and Panarin’s Columbus Blue Jackets. Game 1 is Thursday night in Washington.

”They’re good players, obviously, and we need to work (against) them,” Orlov said. ”Panarin have good skill so we need to not give him a lot of space and Bob we need to put more shots, more traffic on him. If we win, it will be nice.”

Perhaps not since the Detroit Red Wings’ Russian Five has a Stanley Cup playoff series had so many prominent players from Russia, with all eyes on those them as potential X-factors. It starts with Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender who aims to rebound from starting his NHL playoff career 3-10 with a 3.63 goals-against average and .887 save percentage.

”He’s going to rise to the occasion,” Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. ”He has every time he’s been challenged. If I had to pick anybody in the league to go into the playoffs with it would be him, and I think he’s pretty confident about the team in front of him.”

The team in front of Bobrovsky is led by Panarin, whose 82 points are 25 more than the second-closest Columbus player.

”The Blue Jackets have added a guy like Panarin, I think he’s a little bit of that difference make, just like we have some difference makers,” Washington coach Barry Trotz said. ”They can do some things that they maybe didn’t have in the past. He’s an exceptional player. We’ve got some exceptional players. Sometimes in those tight series, those exceptional players can be the difference.”

Ovechkin has made a difference all year Chris Jones Jersey , leading the NHL with 49 goals and scoring 19.1 percent of the Capitals’ total over the course of the 82-game regular season. Kuznetsov caught fire late, recording 11 goals and 17 assists in the final 18 games of the regular season.

”I would say he is mature, understands the game,” Ovechkin said of Kuznetsov. ”Everybody knew he would be a very good, solid player, a talent, and you can see how he plays right now.”

Some things to watch when Columbus and Washington meet in the playoffs for the first time:

GRUBAUER HOUR

Backup Philipp Grubauer got the nod to start Game 1 for the Capitals over 2016 Vezina winner and longtime No. 1 goaltender Braden Holtby. The 26-year-old German started a playoff game in place of Holtby in 2015 because of an illness, but he earned the starting job this time around by closing out the season 7-3-0 with a 2.32 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. Holtby went into a slump in February and March, opening the door for Grubauer to seize the opportunity. But Trotz only named Grubauer his starter for Game 1 and said he’ll take the decision game by game.

TORTORELLA TIME

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella will face the Capitals in a playoff series for the sixth time after going 3-2 with the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. Tortorella has beaten – and lost to – Washington this time of year with less-talented teams than he has right now, particularly after the addition of winger Thomas Vanek and defenseman Ian Cole at the trade deadline made Columbus a high-scoring machine.

”I think we’re playing some of our best hockey, both as a group and certainly the individuals,” Tortorella said. ”I think with them and the additions at the deadline, I think our group feels really good about itself.”

ACTIVE D

Washington’s John Carlson led all NHL defenseman with 68 points in the regular season and yet still might not be the best on the blue line in this series. Columbus has Norris Trophy dark horse Seth Jones, who along with Zack Werenski give the Blue Jackets some serious offense.

SPECIAL TEAMS

One area the Capitals have a huge advantage is on the power play and penalty kill, where they’re ranked seventh and 15th in the league. The Blue Jackets are 15th on the power play and 26th on the penalty kill. Since the trade deadline, though, Columbus has scored on 25 percent of its power plays.

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AP Sports Writer Mitch Stacy in Columbus Daryl Johnston Jersey , Ohio, contributed.

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When Emmanuel Sanders returned from vacation to start the Denver Broncos‘ offseason training program, he went straight to the team store and loved what he saw.

Hanging off the racks were No. 4 Case Keenum jerseys.

For the first time since Peyton Manning’s retirement after Super Bowl 50, the Broncos entered their offseason training program certain of who will be under center after signing Keenum to a two-year, $36 million deal and declaring him the starter.

”I appreciate it, for sure,” Sanders said Wednesday. ”This is the first time in two or three years that I’m not standing up here talking about a quarterback debate. I remember when I got out here, I went out to the team store and I saw Case Keenum jerseys . I was like, `Thank God, I don’t have to deal with that again.’

”Case is our guy. We can go from there. We can work our butts off, try to gain chemistry and try to put up points.”

On the day he signed his contract, Keenum was named the starter by general manager John Elway, who also traded Trevor Siemian, who had beaten Paxton Lynch for the starting quarterback job each of the past two summers, to Minnesota.

After the draft last weekend, Elway reiterated two things about Lynch, whom he traded up to draft in the first round out of Memphis two years ago:

-He still believes he’ll figure things out and become a starting NFL quarterback.

-He’ll have to beat out Chad Kelly this offseason to win the backup job.

If he doesn’t Jerry Hughes Jersey , it would mark the third straight summer that Lynch has failed to beat out a seventh-rounder for a job.

Sanders, who said he’s healthy after being bothered by an ankle injury almost all of last season, is a big fan of Keenum and of the Broncos’ decision to declare him the starter right away.

”He’s a leader,” Sanders said, adding that ”98 percent” of his passes so far have been on target. ”He’s confident in himself. He’s one of those guys that when he steps into the huddle, he’s that leader.

”You don’t have to second-guess what his thought process is. We’re going to complete this ball. We’re going to keep the ball moving. I’m liking what I’m seeing from him so far.”

Sanders and Demaryius Thomas were loath last season to complain about it, but they were clearly affected by the turnstile at quarterback as the Broncos churned through Siemian, Lynch and Brock Osweiler during a 5-11 season.

”You can sit back and say we’re all professional football players and you’ve got to deal with that situation, but at the same time, obviously you can’t gain the same chemistry,” Sanders said.

”You don’t have the same mindset. You have to talk to two different quarterbacks. When you’re going into individual routes, you have to go to one guy and then go with the next guy. You don’t really gain that chemistry. You’re not maximizing the opportunity.

”Now we’re maximizing the opportunity, and hopefully it pays off.”

The Broncos also added some talent into their wide receiving depth, replacing free agent departures Cody Latimer and Bennie Fowler III with draft picks Courtland Sutton of SMU and DaeSean Hamilton of Penn State.

Sanders, who also played at SMU, worked out with Sutton over the winter and was delighted when the Broncos picked him in the second round.

At 6-4 and 218 pounds, he’s built like Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.

”D.T. is big http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/jaire-alexander-jersey ,” Sanders said, but Sutton ”looks like he belongs in the NBA. Working out with him, he has amazing feet. He’s very fluid for being so big. I’m looking forward to getting him in here and just working. Hopefully he can come up with some big plays for us this year.”

At 6-1 and 205 pounds, Hamilton is closer to Sanders’ size – 5-11, 180 – but still bigger.

”I’m going to teach those guys everything that I know,” Sanders said. ”That’s my job.”

Sanders, who is 31 years old and will make $8.25 million this season, said he’s not concerned that the rookies will eventually unseat him.

”That’s going to happen sooner or later,” Sanders said. ”… All I can do is make plays every single day and show that if I become expendable here, just show some other team, hey, look, I still got it. I still got the juice.”

NOTES: The Broncos face a Thursday deadline to exercise OLB Shane Ray’s fifth-year option at more than $9 million, which seems unlikely given that he’s started 15 games in three seasons, missed most of last season with a wrist injury and watched Bradley Chubb fall to Denver with the fifth pick in the last week’s NFL draft.

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