NHL, ESPN ready to wave pom-poms on 16-game, 32-team 'Frozen Frenzy'

The New York Islanders are on the power play. Go live to UBS Arena.

Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson are skating together during the same shift in Pittsburgh. Cut to PPG Paints Arena.

Connor Bedard just scored at United Center. Rewind. Let's watch it and talk about it. Wait a minute, David Pastrnak just scored a minute later. Stay in Chicago and let's see that too.

Related: How to stream NHL games

If it sounds like a frenzy, well, that's because Tuesday in the NHL will be exactly that, a historic 16-game night with all 32 teams in action and almost every game starting at a different time. ESPN will have every inch of it covered with what is being called "Frozen Frenzy."

-- A tripleheader of games on ESPN starting at 6 p.m. ET.

-- Every game on ESPN+.

-- And the meat and potatoes of it all, a live whip-around show co-hosted by John Buccigross and Kevin Weekes that will start on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. ET and move to ESPN2 at 8, taking viewers around the League, game to game, power play to power play, goal to goal, showing anything of significance.

"You've got 16 games, so everybody is playing, and I want this to be an all-you-can-eat buffet of hockey for hockey fans, hockey lovers, hockey people in the business, the casual fan or a new fan," Weekes told NHL.com last week. "Literally a buffet with everything available."

The night begins at 6 p.m. ET, when the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena in the first game of the ESPN tripleheader.

The next game, the Buffalo Sabres at the Ottawa Senators begins at 6:45 p.m. ET. From there, the start time for each of the next 6 games will be staggered by 15 minutes, so no games are starting at the same time. Game 2 of the tripleheader on the main ESPN network, will feature the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks at United Center at 8:30 p.m. The Anaheim Ducks will play the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena at 8:30 p.m.; the game was originally scheduled for 6:30  p.m. ET but was delayed because of a power outage.

The Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators start at Bridgestone Arena at 9:15 p.m. ET and 30 minutes later, it'll be the opening face-off between the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.

The Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings get going at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena. The nightcap is the Philadelphia Flyers against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, Game 3 of the tripleheader on ESPN at 11 p.m. ET.

"I think it's about waving the pom-poms for our sport for sure and showing the excitement of it," Buccigross said. "That's what this is about, a celebration. They can be like, 'My team, yes, but I'm also going to check on the rest of the League.' I think we can deliver elements of the sport to celebrate it and show why we love it."

Buccigross and Weekes will be at the controls of bringing viewers to all the big moments. There is no script or pre-planned segments, only action and reaction, all fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants commentary.

"It relies on 25 years of knowledge and love of watching every game the past 25 years," Buccigross said. "It relies on institutional knowledge, knowing coaches and GMs. I always like the tightrope non-scripted challenge of television. I always have enjoyed that. And let's face it, me and 'Weeksie' are both hockey nerds. We watch everything. We read everything. We love the sport. We love the bones of the sport. We love the people in the sport. We live and breathe it, so for us we're the perfect team for it and I love the challenge of it, bouncing game to game.

"I watch games every night. It's what I do. I'm just going to be doing that with makeup and a suit on, which I don't normally do."

Important in creating this smorgasbord of hockey is the timing. It's early in the season, which means every team is still a Stanley Cup Playoff hopeful even if expectations vary.

"Hockey fans want more, not less, when it comes to certain things, and this is something they want more of," Weekes said. "You're going to have a lot of hockey fans around the world, not just in the States, watching. Something will be on in every sports bar, every restaurant that has a bar at it, every steakhouse that has a bar at it, all the airports. It's unprecedented exposure that our sport deserves that it will be getting."

Buccigross said he views the whip-around show as a real-time podcast with live video and actual events happening at the same time.

"We need to be ready," Buccigross said. "We could go to a game, and nothing could happen, so we are really based a lot on building drama. Like, Connor Bedard on the power play, let's go to that game. While we're there someone might score, and we'll talk about that. I want to make sure we're tight and ready for this. There's a lot of expectation and enthusiasm and I want to be able to deliver for the hockey fan. It's kind of new, we're not sure so we'll see when we get there, but hopefully it delivers."