The highest-profile series of the NHL’s second round has delivered the top audiences of the postseason on broadcast and cable.
Monday’s Capitals-Penguins Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 3 earned 1.9 million viewers on NBCSN, up 14% from Game 3 of the same series last year (1.6M) and up 42% from Rangers-Capitals in 2015 (1.3M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Capitals’ overtime win ranks as the most-watched game of the playoffs on cable, topping the previous high of 1.4 million for Game 1. The game delivered a 20.6 rating in Pittsburgh, up 19% from last year’s Game 3, and a 7.1 in Washington D.C. (+42%).
Game 2 of the series on Saturday had a 1.5 final rating and 2.6 million viewers on the NBC broadcast network, up a tick in ratings and 1% in viewership from Game 2 of the same series last year (1.4, 2.5M) and the most-watched game of the playoffs on any network.
The Penguins’ win, which peaked with 3.1 million viewers from 11 PM ET through the conclusion, ranks 10th out of the 20 primetime NHL games on NBC (not counting the Stanley Cup Final). Penguins-Capitals games account for three of the top ten.
It was the day’s top program in adults 18-49 (1.0) and adults 18-34 (0.8).
In other action, NBC earned a 1.0 (+25%) and 1.5 million (+29%) for Rangers-Senators Game 2 on Saturday and a 1.0 (-17%) and 1.6 million (-12%) for Blues-Predators Game 3 on Sunday. NBCSN scored a 0.5 and 803,000 for Ducks-Oilers Game 3 Sunday night, flat in ratings and down 2% in viewership from Predators-Sharks last year (0.5, 819K) but down 58% and 61% respectively from Wild-Blackhawks in 2015 (1.2, 2.0M).
(Wknd. numbers via NBC Sports Group Press Box 5.2, ShowBuzz Daily 5.2a, 5.2b)
