Outside of the Stanley Cup Final, Saturday’s Blackhawks/Ducks finale was the most-watched NHL game in at least two decades.
Game 7 of the Blackhawks/Ducks NHL Western Conference final earned 4.6 million viewers on NBC Saturday night, up 11% from Kings/Blackhawks Game 7 on NBCSN last year, which aired on a Sunday night (4.1M), and the most-watched non-final NHL game on record (dates back to 1994).
The previous high was 4.5 million for the 2011 Capitals/Penguins Winter Classic, and the previous high for a playoff game was the aforementioned 4.1 million for Kings/Blackhawks last year.
The Blackhawks have now played in three of the five most-watched non-final games since 1994, with the 2009 Red Wings/Blackhawks Winter Classic ranking fourth.
Overall, the NHL conference finals averaged averaged 2.2 million viewers across NBC and NBCSN — the third-highest for the round since ESPN and FOX averaged 2.9 million in 1996. Only 2013 (2.6M) and 1997 (2.4M) averaged a larger audience over that span.
