Sid and Pens go for 12 in a row

Sidney Crosby is the NHL's hottest player, and his Pittsburgh Penguins are the League's hottest team. The Buffalo Sabres will spend Saturday night trying to cool off both of them.

The Sabres welcome the Penguins to HSBC Arena in one of 13 games on the NHL schedule. The Penguins will be looking for their 12th consecutive victory, while Crosby will be trying to extend his personal scoring streak to 18 games. He's coming off a two-goal performance in Wednesday's 5-2 victory against Toronto that gave him 20 goals and 35 points in his last 17 games.

The Sabres are also coming off a victory -- they beat San Jose 6-3 on Thursday.

The Penguins-Sabres game is one of seven contests that will start at 7 p.m. ET.

At Boston, the Bruins host Philadelphia for the first time since the Flyers' 4-3 win in Game 7 of last spring's Eastern Conference Semifinals. Both teams are coming off wins on Thursday -- Boston beat the Islanders 5-2 while the Flyers won 4-1 at Toronto.

The Leafs are home again, this time against their oldest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, in a game that can be seen on the NHL Network in the U.S. and RDS and CBC's Hockey night in Canada north of the border.

The Islanders, winners of just one of their last 19 games, are back home to host Atlanta. In Newark, the New Jersey Devils also return home to face the Detroit Red Wings. The third New York-area team, the Rangers, visit Columbus after winning 5-3 at Ottawa on Thursday -- the same night the Blue Jackets lost 4-1 at St. Louis.  In the other early game, Colorado wraps up a swing through the Southeast Division with a visit to Washington, where the Capitals lost 3-0 to Florida on Thursday.

The Panthers, winners of three in a row, are at Nashville in one of three 8 p.m. ET starts. The Predators had a couple of days off to enjoy their 3-2 win at Detroit on Wednesday. Also at 8, St. Louis hosts Carolina and Dallas travels to Phoenix, where the Coyotes will try to bounce back from Thursday's 3-2 loss to Minnesota.

At 10 p.m. ET, Tampa Bay completes a swing through Western Canada with a visit to Vancouver in the second half of the Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader. A half-hour later, San Jose returns home to host Chicago and Minnesota moves from Phoenix to Los Angeles to face the Kings, who extended their winning streak to three games by edging Calgary 2-1 on Thursday.