NBC flexed Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final onto their broadcast network late in the playoffs. Originally, as they did last year, they were scheduled to broadcast the game on NBCSN, before the network knew there was a Triple Crown at stake. The Peacock turned out to have the right idea.
While it was nowhere near the 20 million viewers of the Belmont Stakes, Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final was the most-watched Game 2 on record in America, with NBC drawing 6.4 million viewers. The double overtime thriller peaked from 11:30-11:45 p.m. ET when Dustin Brown got the game-winning goal in front of 7.6 million viewers. The game also won the night among Adults 18-49.
Game 2 also posted substantial gains over Wednesday’s Game 1 (4.7 million viewers) and was the most-watched Saturday night Stanley Cup Final game since 2001, when New Jersey and Colorado played Game 7 on a Saturday on ABC. That makes it Game 2 NBC’s most-watched Saturday night Final telecast. That said, Game 2 only beat out one (Game 5) of NBC’s four Stanley Cup Final telecasts from last year in total viewers.
Locally, NBC saw substantial gains in Los Angeles, which went from a 7.1 rating in Game to an 8.9. That makes Game 2 the second-most watched game ever in LA on NBC or NBCSN, behind Game 6 of the 2012 Final. New York led all markets with a 10.5 rating, followed by LA, Buffalo, Boston, Minneapolis, West Palm Beach, Providence, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, and Chicago, San Diego and St. Louis in a three-way tie for tenth.
Through two games, NBC is averaging 5.5 million viewers for the Stanley Cup Final, well up from 2012, when Devils-Kings averaged 2.9 million through two games.
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