© Dan Rosen

Editor’s note: With 16 games on the NHL schedule Tuesday, ESPN+ and ESPN2 will again be hosting “NHL Frozen Frenzy,” a whip-around show that will take fans to all 16 arenas. While they will be busy on the TV side, the folks in the NHL Situation Room in Toronto will be just as busy, keeping an eye on all the games, calls and video challenges. NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen is in Toronto and will take NHL.com readers inside the Situation Room with a live blog all night long.

6:35 p.m. ET

Minutes ago, Rod Pasma was talking to Bell Centre in Montreal, to the person on the headset at ice level and the person on the headset in the video room upstairs. The point of the conversation is to make sure the technology is working.

Every arena hosting a game is required to check in with the Situation Room an hour before puck drop to make sure the video is going to the official’s iPad in the penalty box area and the communication is working so there could be a talk back to the Situation Room.

Pasma lets the person on the headset know which game logger they will be working with that night. The game logger will then check in with the person on the headset at ice level moments before puck drop to ensure everything is still in working order.

Pasma told me it will eventually happen that they will have to quickly talk to the person on the headset in the penalty box area to let them know the Situation Room is closely looking at a goal and to keep the penalty box door open until the goal is confirmed or if there is a coaches challenge coming.

Making sure the technology works is, of course, essential.

There will be 32 check-ins tonight, 16 an hour before puck drop and 16 more just before puck drop.

6:25 p.m. ET

The first fight of the night came at 6:17 p.m. ET, exactly eight minutes into the Frozen Frenzy. It’s Dylan McIlrath of the Capitals and Nicolas Deslauriers of the Flyers.

“I’m tired just watching his right now,” Kay Whitmore said.

“Hey, they’re both cut,” Rod Pasma said. “That’s a beauty.”

With only one game going on, the game loggers in here plus Whitmore, Pasma and Kris King, the executive vice president of hockey operations, are all chatting about the Flyers and Capitals, reacting to every play.

It should be noted that everyone in here is doing their job, but everyone in here is also a fan of the game. You have to be to watch every second of every game the way they do in here. And when something happens in a game, be it a goal or a fight, as we’ve already seen one of each tonight, the buzz in the room gets louder.

The Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers are close to puck drop at Amerant Bank Arena.

6:15 p.m. ET

We’re underway.

Kris King, the executive VP of hockey operations, Rod Pasma, the group VP of hockey operations, and Kay Whitmore, also a group VP of hockey operations, are sitting at the main desk, almost like they’re captaining the Starship Enterprise.Ken Holland, the former GM of the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers, is sitting with them. Holland, like me, is taking in a night in the Situation Room, only he’s just watching. Maybe I should have him do some writing.

It took 51 seconds into the first game of the night between the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers for Whitmore to get up and go over to Michael Andlauer, who is logging the game, find out if there was a tripping in the corner. He wanted a closer look.

It was nothing, so he walked away and went back to his spot at the main work station where the captains of the room are sitting.

The Flyers and Capitals are the only game going now and that’s why it is covering a four-box of screens, one entire quadrant of the main wall of screens, plus it’s on the screens on each ends of the room and Andlauer’s screen.

The first goal of the night is on the board. Nic Dowd for the Capitals at 3:49 of the first period.

There are some comments about how smart of a player Dowd is, how he protected the puck before lifting it in with his backhand.

No question about that goal, so play goes on.

© Dan Rosen

6:05 p.m. ET

We are minutes away from puck drop and some hockey royalty just walked in the room.

Ken Holland, the Hockey Hall of Famer and former general manager of the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers, is here with his son, Brad, who was an assistant GM with the Oilers the past two seasons.

Brad lives in the Toronto area and Ken is visiting his family, but he wanted to check out the Situation Room on what will be a busy night, so this is his opportunity.

Rod Pasma, the group VP of hockey operations, is introducing Ken Holland to everyone in the room, making sure he meets all of the people who will be logging games tonight. Ken is talking golf with Tyler Johnston, a senior manager of hockey operations, and Michael Andlauer, a manager of hockey operations and Central Scouting.

“Alright, we’re rolling,” Pasma just said.

Here we go.

5:50 p.m. ET

Rod Pasma, the group vice president of hockey operations, seems to be the one in here that will be keeping things light as the action gets going.

A few minutes ago he went up to one of the IT guys in here and first asked, “Are you ready to roll?” before saying, “I’m going to break something when we’ve got like 15 games going on at once just to test you.”

Pasma then went to Tyler Johnston, the senior manager of hockey operations who is here as a game logger, and told him he looked ready to go, even complimenting him on getting a haircut for the big night.

Pasma has just settled into his seat and opened his microphone to talk to someone at Nationwide Arena.

“Hey Columbus,” Pasma said.

He eased some concern about the video guy at Nationwide Arena not being set up yet.

The Blue Jackets’ game against the Toronto Maple Leafs doesn’t start until 7:30 p.m. ET.

“You’re OK,” Pasma said, before flipping the switch to sign off from his conversation with Columbus.

5:35 p.m. ET

The Situation Room is beginning to stir as we are approaching 30 minutes away from the first puck drop of the night in Philadelphia.

Kris King, Rod Pasma, Sean Ellis and Brad Smith have been in here for about an hour already. King is the executive vice president of hockey operations. Pasma is a group VP of hockey operations. Ellis is the vice president of hockey operations and the official scoring manager. Smith is the director of technical services.

Kay Whitmore arrived a few minutes ago. He’s also a group vice president.

More game loggers are arriving.

This is the central hub of the NHL world, where every decision on every goal is made, where rule changes are born, where every game is logged and every call made by every official on the ice is analyzed and dissected.

And this is the busiest night of the season with 16 games going on, starting from 6 p.m. ET through 11 p.m. ET. It won’t end here until close to 2 a.m. ET, when the final buzzer in the last game of the night between the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings sounds.

I’m in the back of the room with Smith and his IT group to my left. There are four here plus Smith making sure the operation is running smoothly, that there are no technical problems, or if there are they can get fixed right away.

I have a full view of the room, including the 16 large screens on the main wall. King, Whitmore, Pasma and Colin Campbell, the senior executive vice president of hockey operations who runs the room, at a row of stations directly in front of the wall of screens.

There will be 12 game loggers here by the middle of game action, with four assigned to two games. They are spread around the room, each with their own station that has four screens. They log everything they see, clipping it and color coding it based on the system they have.

Yellow is for penalties and missed calls. Red is for injuries and player safety clips. Blue is for coach’s challenges, video reviews, close plays around the net. Green is for embellishment, arena operations or equipment issues. Purple focuses on officiating. Grey is no calls on plays that aren’t clear cut.

These clips can be used for a number of purposes, including officiating review and education, trends in the game that could lead to rule changes, or the need for further interpretation on current rules the way we have seen in recent years for slashing and cross checking.

It starts here, and it’s going to get busy soon.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals are on the ice for warmups.