Sports Ratings Tracker

Wednesday’s Stars-Jets second round Stanley Cup playoff Game 1 averaged 1.1 million viewers for ESPN, up 22% from the all-Canadian Oilers-Canucks last year (902K) — marking a rare year-over-year increase for this year’s postseason.

Earlier in the night, Panthers-Maple Leafs averaged 1.0 million — down 43% from the all-American Bruins-Panthers a year ago (1.8M).

As for the lone all-American series in this year’s second round, Hurricanes-Capitals Game 2 averaged 1.4 million on Thursday night — down 20% from Rangers-Hurricanes on TNT and truTV last year (1.75M). The Oilers-Golden Knights nightcap followed with 973,000, down 22% from Avalanche-Stars a year ago (1.24M).

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has averaged 1.14 million viewers through Thursday, down 32% from last year. The full postseason has averaged 817,000 on the ESPN networks, down 30%.