Stanley Cup playoff viewership remains up double-digits entering the Cup Final.
Saturday’s Rangers-Panthers NHL Eastern Conference Final Game 6 averaged a 1.5 rating and 3.02 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest audience for a conference final game in nine years — since Blackhawks-Ducks Game 7 on NBC in 2015 (4.60M).
Excluding the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers’ series-clinching win trails only a pair of first round game sevens — Maple Leafs-Bruins on ABC this year (3.24M) and Panthers-Bruins on TNT last year (3.10M) — as the most-watched playoff game since 2020. (Despite airing in the months-delayed “bubble,” Islanders-Flyers Game 7 in 2020 averaged 3.04 million immediately following the similarly delayed Kentucky Derby.)
The six-game Panthers-Rangers series averaged a 1.1 and 2.29 million on the ESPN networks, up 31% and 45% respectively from last year’s four-game Panthers-Hurricanes series on TNT (0.9, 1.58M) and the second-most watched conference final since 2015.
Shifting to the Western Conference, Sunday’s Stars-Oilers Game 6 averaged a combined 1.0 and 1.98 million across TNT and truTV — up 19% and 25% respectively from Golden Knights-Stars on ESPN last year (0.8, 1.58M). Edmonton’s win was the most-watched WCF Game 6 in nine years, since the aforementioned Blackhawks-Ducks series in 2015.
Despite swapping American market Las Vegas for Canadian market Edmonton — which does not count toward U.S. Nielsen ratings — the six-game Oilers-Stars series averaged 1.71 million, up 6% in viewership from last year (1.62M).
The full conference finals averaged two million viewers (+26%).
Entering the Stanley Cup Final, NHL playoff games are averaging 1.3 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, TNT and truTV — up 14% in viewership from last year and the highest three-round average since 1996.
