Deep freeze.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals drew a 1.5 overnight rating on NBC Saturday night, “down 11.8% from a 1.7/3 for last year?s Hurricanes-Oilers Game Three” last year, and on pace to set an all-time broadcast network record low. The rating is off 32% from the 2.2 overnight for Flames/Lightning Game 3, currently the lowest rated Stanley Cup Finals game on broadcast television (finishing with a 1.4 final rating).

According to Marc Berman of Mediaweek, the game drew “just 1.73 million viewers and a 0.5/ 2 among adults 18-49 in prime time.”

In other NHL news, NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol spoke on the infamous decision to leave overtime of Senators/Sabres Game 5 for coverage of the Preakness pre-race show.

“In an ideal set of circumstances, we wouldn’t have the prior arrangement, but we’ve been involved with both the Derby and Preakness now for seven or eight years. And as [NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman] and I discussed many times this year going into this situation, we prayed for quadruple overtime on a Saturday night during the Stanley Cup Final. But we hoped it wouldn’t happen on the weekend of the Derby or the Preakness, and we got caught.”

Link to Marc Berman forum found via DBSForums.com message board.