It may not be a ratings hit, but the NHL has been drawing solid numbers on NBC this season.
Sunday’s Penguins/Capitals game drew a 1.3 overnight rating on NBC, up 8% from a 1.2 for Red Wings/Penguins last week. NBC did not air an NHL telecast on Super Bowl Sunday last year.
Compared to NBC’s fifth NHL telecast of last season (Penguins/Capitals, 2/22/09), Sunday’s telecast was up 18% from a 1.1 overnight.
This is the third-straight NHL telecast on NBC to draw at least a 1.2 overnight rating. To put that in perspective, the network had not drawn an overnight higher than 1.1 for any regular season NHL telecast during the previous two seasons (excluding the Winter Classic).
