Capitals-Penguins ratings surged at the finish line.
Airing immediately after the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Penguins-Capitals Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 5 earned a 2.4 rating and 4.26 million viewers on NBC — flat in ratings but down 2% in viewership from last year (2.4, 4.33M) and flat and up 2% respectively from 2016 (2.4, 4.16M). Those windows featured the same matchup.
Including streaming viewership, the game had 4.31 million viewers — still down 1% from last year (4.37M).
Despite the dip, Game 5 delivered the third-largest Stanley Cup playoff audience on record outside of the Stanley Cup Final (dates back to 1994). Game 7 of the 2015 Blackhawks-Ducks Western Conference final holds the top spot (4.6M), followed by three Penguins-Capitals games — this year’s Game 5, last year’s Game 5 and Game 5 in 2016, all in the post-Kentucky Derby window.
Tuesday’s clinching Game 6 had a 1.3 and 2.24 million on NBCSN, up 18% in ratings and 20% in viewership from the same matchup last year (1.1, 1.9M) and up 86% and 102% respectively from 2016 (Stars-Blues: 0.7, 1.1M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Capitals’ overtime win, which peaked with 3.3 million from 9:45-10 PM ET, delivered the sixth-largest second round audience ever on NBCSN and the second-largest with Game 7s excluded. Including streaming viewership, the game had 2.32 million, still up 20%.
It was the only game of the series to outperform the comparable game of last year’s matchup.
In other action, Monday’s Predators-Jets Game 6 had 1.2 million — up 140% from two years ago (Sharks-Predators: 500K). There was no comparable window last year. Game 5 of the series had a 0.44 rating and 714,000 viewers Saturday night, up 29% and 21 respectively from 2016 (Predators-Sharks: 0.34, 589K).
On Sunday, Bruins-Lightning Game 5 had a 1.3 rating and 2.1 million viewers on NBC — up 44% in ratings and 51% in viewership from last year (Blues-Predators: 0.9, 1.4M) and up 63% and 70% respectively from 2016 (Islanders-Lightning: 0.8, 1.2M). Game 4 drew a 0.9 (+50%) and 1.7 million (+51%) on NBCSN Friday.
Finally, Sunday’s Golden Knights-Sharks Game 6 scored a 0.8 rating and 1.3 million on NBCSN — up 84% in ratings and 80% in viewership from last year (Ducks-Oilers: 0.43, 749K). Friday’s Game 5 had a 0.6 (+78%) and 1.1 million (+88%).
Not including Monday’s games, the second round of the playoffs has averaged 1.0 million viewers on the NBC family of networks — up 10% from last year (941K) and a six-year high (2012: 1.1M).
[Numbers from NBC Sports PR 5.8; Programming Insider 5.9; ShowBuzz Daily 5.8 a, b; Programming Insider 5.7]
