The NHL’s marquee second round series ended on a high note.
Game 6 of the Capitals/Penguins Stanley Cup playoff series drew 2.0 million viewers on NBCSN Tuesday night, up 116% from Canadiens/Lightning Game 6 last year (932K), up 3% from Rangers/Penguins Game 7 in 2014 (2.01M to 1.96M), and the top audience of the postseason on cable. The previous high was 1.8 million for Game 4 of the series last week.
The Penguins/Capitals series generated cable’s four largest audiences of the playoffs, with Game 3 ranking third (1.6M) and Game 1 fourth (1.5M). Only three other games have crossed the million viewer mark, Games 4 and 6 of the Blues/Stars series (1.1M for each) and Game 7 of Blackhawks/Blues in the first round (1.4M).
Keep in mind multiple games on broadcast have pulled larger numbers this postseason, including Games 2 and 5 of Penguins/Capitals — which scored 2.5 and 4.2 million viewers on NBC, respectively.
In addition to the playoff-high, Tuesday’s clincher earned the sixth-largest second round audience on cable since the current television deal began in the 2005-06 season, and the third-largest with Game 7s excluded.
(Tue. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)
