The penultimate game of the NHL season delivered another series-high, though the numbers were low by the standards of a Cup Final Game 6.
Friday’s Panthers-Oilers NHL Stanley Cup Final Game 6 averaged a 2.1 rating and 4.2 million viewers on ABC, per Nielsen fast-nationals — down 27% in ratings and 28% in viewership from the previous Game 6 two years ago, Avalanche-Lightning (2.9, 5.82M). Last year’s Cup Final ended in five games.
The Oilers’ series-tying win, which peaked with 4.9 million viewers, edged Game 5 to rank as the most-watched of the series (and as goes without saying, the NHL season).
Viewership was the fifth-lowest for a Cup Final Game 6 in the past 30 years (20 total). Three of the bottom five involved a Canadian team: Friday’s game, Hurricanes-Oilers on NBC in 2006 (2.92M) and Rangers-Canucks on ESPN in 1994 (2.37M). (The other two games were Lightning-Stars in the 2020 “bubble” at 2.93 million and Devils-Ducks in 2003 at 3.77 million.)
The last Game 6 to involve a Canadian team — Canucks-Bruins in 2011 — averaged 5.48 million on NBC. Keep in mind the Vancouver was facing an Original Six team.
Entering Monday’s Game 7, the Stanley Cup Final is averaging 3.6 million viewers on ABC — up 36% from last year’s five-game series on TNT, TBS and truTV, but down 22% from the six-game Avalanche-Lightning series in ’22 (4.6M).
Including Canadian viewership on CBC, SportsNet and TVAS, Game 6 averaged 9.7 million — the largest combined U.S. and Canadian audience for a Cup Final game since 2019. The full series is averaging 7.6 million with Canadian viewership included, up 59% from last year, when there was no Canadian team in the Cup Final.
