The Bruins continue to carry the strongest Stanley Cup postseason on record.
Tuesday’s Bruins-Hurricanes NHL Eastern Conference final Game 3 earned 1.90 million viewers on NBCSN, up 31% from Lightning-Capitals last year (1.45M) and up 55% from Senators-Penguins in 2017 (1.23M). Ratings were not immediately available.
The Bruins’ win was the most-watched Game 3 of an NHL conference final in five years — since Blackhawks-Kings on the NBC broadcast network in 2014 (2.43M).
It also delivered the third-largest audience of the postseason on cable, behind Game 1 of the series (2.08M) and Game 4 of Bruins-Blue Jackets in the second round (1.99M). Including games on NBC, the Bruins have played in seven of the eight most-watched playoff games thus far and nine of the top eleven.
Game 3 scored a 17.2 rating in Boston — a series-high — and a 6.2 in Raleigh-Durham.
On Wednesday night, Sharks-Blues Game 3 had 1.389 million viewers — down a fraction of a percent from Jets-Golden Knights last year (1.394M), but up 27% from Ducks-Predators in 2017 (1.10M).
Including streaming viewership, Bruins-Hurricanes had 1.98 million and Sharks-Blues 1.47 million.
Through Wednesday, the Stanley Cup Playoffs has averaged 1.14 million viewers across NBC Sports’ TV and digital platforms — the highest average on record (dates back to 1994). Last year’s comparable figures were not available.
[Numbers from Nielsen via ShowBuzz Daily 5.15, 5.16; NBC Sports PR/Twitter 5.15 a, b, 5.16 a, b]
