NHL On Tap: Canadiens eyeing fifth straight win highlights Halloween sked

There are 10 games on the NHL schedule Saturday, including four games on Sportsnet in Canada. It's the busiest Halloween gameday since 2015.

Here are five things to watch today, along with the complete game schedule.

The Montreal Canadiens will go for their fifth straight win when they face Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Bell Centre (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, SNE, SN-PIT).

The Canadiens (8-3-2) have managed to get hot without captain Nick Suzuki, who's expected to miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury and could be sidelined another 1-3 weeks. Montreal has had balanced scoring during their run with nine players scoring at least one goal, and forwards Jake Evans, Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook and defenseman Kaiden Guhle scoring two each.

Jacob Fowler could be back in net after Jakub Dobes made 17 saves in a 5-2 win at the Dallas Stars on Thursday. Fowler is 6-1-0 with a 1.54 goals-against average, .942 save percentage and two shutouts in seven starts this season, including 3-0-0 with two goals against on 101 shots (.980 save percentage, 0.67 GAA) during the winning streak.

The Penguins (5-6-2) have points in three straight games (2-0-1). Crosby needs one power-play point to tie Hall of Fame defenseman Phil Housley for 10th most in NHL history (612).

You're going to want to pause your trick or treating so you don't miss Matthew Schaefer and Connor McDavid skating in the same game. It's happening at UBS Arena, where Schaefer and the New York Islanders host McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers (2 p.m.

ET; MSGSN, SN). The No. 1 picks in the 2015 (McDavid) and 2025 (Schaefer) NHL drafts will go head-to-head in the first of two matchups this season (next is Jan.

9 at Edmonton). McDavid leads the NHL with 36 points (eight goals, 28 assists) in 13 games, putting him on a 232-point pace.

The Oilers captain will try to add to his NHL record 13-game assist streak to start the season; he broke the mark with two assists in a 4-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. McDavid already holds the NHL record for most assists in October and needs a four-point Halloween to tie Mario Lemieux's record for most points in the month (38 in 1988).

Edmonton (9-2-2) will also try to build on its team record five-game road winning streak to start a season. Schaefer, who scored the overtime goal in a 4-3 win at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 13 games and is third in the League in average ice time per game (26:58), meaning he'll likely see a lot of McDavid, who is first among forwards in average ice time (23:30).

The Islanders (7-4-2) are 4-1-1 in their past six games.

The Boston Bruins have had a strong first month of the season, but have lost their past two games and would like to finish October strong when they go against the struggling Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden (1 p.m. ET; CHSN, NESN, SN1).

The Bruins (9-4-1) lead the Atlantic Division, no small feat considering every team in the division has a points percentage of .577 or better. Boston was 7-0-1 in its previous eight games prior to a 2-1 loss at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and a 4-1 defeat to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Captain David Pastrnak needs one goal to move past Patrice Bergeron (427) into third place on the Bruins' all-time list, behind only Johnny Bucyk (545) and Phil Esposito (459). The Blackhawks (4-9-0) are 1-4-0 in their past five games, with six goals in that span.

Forward Patrick Kane needs one assist to become the 21st player in NHL history, and the only one born in the United States, with 900.

The Detroit Red Wings can keep making some headway in the Atlantic when they host the Blues at Little Caesars Arena (1 p.m. ET; BN+, STLNHL, DSN).

Despite starting the day tied for last place in the division, the Red Wings (6-4-3) have points in eight of their past nine games (5-1-3), including wins in two straight and in three of four. There has been a lot of noise around the Red Wings in recent days with the suspension of forward Dylan Larkin, the former captain who has asked to be traded and now will be held out of the lineup without pay until the team can move him.

But Detroit responded to that news with a 4-1 win against Chicago on Thursday, when Viktor Arvidsson led the way with a hat trick, giving the forward a team-high eight goals. The Red Wings will try to keep a good thing going against the Blues (6-6-1), who responded to back-to-back losses with a 4-1 win against the Bruins on Thursday.

The Buffalo Sabres (6-4-3) visit the Kings (4-6-2) at Crypto.com Arena (4 p.m. ET; ABTV, MSG-B, SN1), with center Tage Thompson trying to be a nightmare for opposition the way he was four years ago, when he tied the NHL record for most points in a game on Halloween with six (three goals, three assists) in an 8-3 win against the Red Wings.

Kings forward Corey Perry had five points on Halloween in 2008, when he was playing for the Anaheim Ducks. Elias Pettersson will try for his second Halloween hat trick when he skates for the Vancouver Canucks (3-11-1) against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-6-2) at Rogers Arena (7 p.m.

ET; SNO, SNW, SNP). The center has the most recent Halloween hat trick, with three goals in a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators in 2023.

There have been 23 hat tricks on Halloween in NHL history; Colorado Avalanche forward Martin Necas leads active players with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in four Halloween games. Necas and the Avalanche (7-5-1) play the final game of the day against the Flames at Ball Arena (10 p.m.

ET; ALT, SN); Calgary (5-7-0) has the highest winning and points percentages of any team on Halloween with a 10-2 record (each .833).

Chicago Blackhawks at Boston Bruins (1 p.m. ET; CHSN, NESN, SN1)

St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings (1 p.m. ET; BN+, STLNHL, DSN)

Tampa Bay Lightning at Nashville Predators (2 p.m. ET; The Spot, SCRIPPS)

Edmonton Oilers at New York Islanders (2 p.m. ET; MSGSN, SN)

Buffalo Sabres at Los Angeles Kings (4 p.m. ET; ABTV, MSG-B, SN1)

Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks (4 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, TSN5, RDSI)

Pittsburgh Penguins at Montreal Canadiens (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, SNE, SN-PIT)

Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks (7 p.m. ET; SNO, SNW, SNP)

Columbus Blue Jackets at Dallas Stars (8 p.m. ET; CBJHN, Prime Video, CBJNHL)

Calgary Flames at Colorado Avalanche (10 p.m. ET; ALT, SN)