The NHL’s return to ESPN has already paid off in the ratings with a record Opening Night audience.
Tuesday’s Penguins-Lightning NHL Opening Night game averaged 983,000 viewers on ESPN, the league’s largest Opening Night audience ever on cable (dates back to 1993). The previous high was 956,000 for Flyers-Bruins on NBCSN in 2014.
Regardless of network, it was the largest audience for the first national NHL telecast of any season since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign — when the season opened with a regional window on NBC (Blackhawks-Kings or Flyers-Penguins: 2.8M).
Pittsburgh’s win increased 36% from Capitals-Blues on NBCSN in October 2019, the last traditional Opening Night (983K). Last season’s first game, Flyers-Penguins on a Wednesday afternoon in January, averaged 932,000 on NBCSN.
In the nightcap, Kraken-Golden Knights averaged 783,000 — up 107% from Sharks-Golden Knights in ’19 (379K).
As should surprise no one, neither game came close to the competing Major League Baseball playoff games, which averaged 3.1 and 5.1 million viewers on TBS.
Tuesday marked the first time in more than 17 years that ESPN aired an NHL game. The network is in the first of a seven-year deal with the league. Turner Sports begins its inaugural season of NHL coverage Wednesday night.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 10.13]
