With a Game 7 still to come, the Penguins-Capitals series continues to deliver for NBC Sports.
Monday’s Capitals-Penguins Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 6 earned 1.9 million viewers on NBCSN, up 68% from Stars-Blues last year (1.1M). Compared to Game 6 of the same series last year, which aired on a Tuesday night, viewership fell 7% from 2.0 million. That game went overtime and was a series clincher.
The Pittsburgh-Washington series accounts for five of the six largest audiences of the playoffs, with Game 6 ranking fifth. Figures do not include the 62,000 who streamed coverage on NBC Sports digital platforms, a postseason-high.
The Capitals’ series-tying win earned a 7.6 rating in Washington D.C., the market’s highest for a playoff game on cable since the team’s Game 7 loss to the Rangers two years ago (7.9).
In other action, Blues-Predators Game 6 had a 0.9 final rating and 1.4 million viewers on NBC Sunday, up a tick in ratings and 13% in viewership from Islanders-Lightning Game 5 last year (0.8, 1.2M). Nashville’s clincher had a 9.8 rating locally, trailing Game 3 of the series (9.9) as the highest Predators rating ever in the market.
Ducks-Oilers had a 0.4 and 743,000 on NBCSN later in the night, down 64% and 62% respectively from Rangers-Capitals in the same window two years ago (1.1, 1.9M). There was no comparable game last year. Rangers-Senators had a 0.6 and 999,000 on the network the previous day; there were no comparable windows last year or in 2015.
