Televised hockey doesn’t generally draw big numbers. But Wednesday night’s opener of the Stanley Cup Finals, a thrilling, triple- overtime 4-3 victory for the Chicago Blackhawks over the Boston Bruins, snared the best Game 1 numbers in 16 years.
The game (8 p.m. to 1:06 a.m.) averaged nearly 6.4 million viewers on NBC, the network’s most-watched Game 1 since 2006.
It was also up a whopping 119 percent over last year’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
The numbers for Wednesday night’s game fell only 9,000 viewers short of 1997’s Game 1 (Detroit vs. Philadelphia), which is the most-watched Game 1 ever.
Viewership for Wednesday night’s game peaked in the first overtime period (11:15-11:30 p.m.) with nearly 7.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
Wednesday’s game was also the top-rated program (both broadcast and cable) in men 18-49 and men 25-54. NBC is averaging 3.1 million viewers for its Stanley Cup playoffs, up 38 percent over its timeslot average last year.