NHL ready for the season's busiest night

The NHL has deeded Halloween to the trick-or-treaters. But Saturday night belongs to the skaters and goaltender –and to hockey fans, who have their choice of 14 games on the busiest night of the 2010-11 season. The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers are the only teams that get the night off.

The action starts with six games at 7 p.m. ET.

The New York Rangers, coming off a 4-3 home loss to Carolina on Friday, pay their second visit in nine days to Toronto, where the Leafs will try to rebound after a 2-0 loss at Boston on Thursday. The game can be seen in the U.S. on the NHL Network and on CBC as part of Hockey Night in Canada.

Montreal goes for its fifth consecutive victory when Florida comes to the Bell Centre in a game that can be seen on RDS and regionally on CBC. Ottawa, which beat the Panthers 5-3 on Thursday, hosts Boston in another regional CBC telecast. The New York Islanders, 3-1 losers at home to Montreal on Friday, visit Philadelphia, which is coming home after a 3-2 win at Pittsburgh. The Penguins go to Carolina, and Nashville visits Detroit.

An hour later, Atlanta tries to make it two wins in two nights at St. Louis. The Thrashers won 4-3 in OT at home against Buffalo on Friday, one night after the Blues won 3-0 at Nashville. Chicago will try to bounce back from Friday’s 7-4 home loss to Edmonton when the Hawks visit Minnesota. Buffalo visits Dallas, where the Stars have dropped three in a row, including a 5-2 loss to Los Angeles on Thursday.

At 9 p.m. ET, Colorado returns home after concluding a road trip with a 6-5 win at Calgary on Thursday to host Columbus. Phoenix also returns home – the Coyotes won 4-2 at Detroit on Thursday and will host Tampa Bay.

The second half of the Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader has the Washington Capitals, 2-1 losers at Minnesota on Thursday, making a rare visit to Calgary for a 10 p.m. ET start. A half-hour later, New Jersey will try to go 2-for-2 in Southern California by winning at Los Angeles. The Anaheim Ducks, who lost 2-1 to the Devils on Friday night, visit San Jose, where the Sharks have been off since whipping the Devils 5-2 on Wednesday.