Game 3 ratings not a good sign for the National Hockey League.

A rough night for the NHL.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Game 3 ratings not a good sign for the National Hockey League.
Richard Ulreich/CSM/Zuma

The National Hockey League has a pretty exciting Stanley Cup Final on its hands, but it seems that the sheer level of domination that the Boston Bruins produced in Game 3 of that series may have hurt the league in terms of its viewership numbers. 

A new report from Sports Media Watch has revealed that the Stanley Cup Final hit a 3 year low on Saturday night when the Boston Bruins crushed the St. Louis Blues by a score of 7 - 2. The outright one sided nature of the game itself almost certainly played a role in the low viewership numbers, but the silver lining for the National Hockey League here is that there were some other underlying factors that could have also contributed to just how low the rating sank for Game 3.

First according to the report Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final earned a 2.1 overnight rating on NBCSN, a numger that marked a 16% decrease from the same game in last year's Stanley Cup Final that was disputed between the Washington Capitals and the Las Vegas Golden Knights.That 2.1 rating represents the lowest Stanley Cup Game 3 overnight since the Penguins faced off against the Sharks in 2016 and posted a 1.9 rating for that game. It also marks the third lowest rating for any Stanley Cup Final game since the New Jersey Devils played the Los Angeles Kings, ahead of only Games 3 and 3 in 2016.

As I stated there were outside factors that could have contributed to the low rating in both the Boston and St. Louis markets respectively. FOX aired the Saturday night Major League Baseball games between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees as well as the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs with both games appearing in the same time slot as Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The good news in that regard for the National Hockey League is that they beat both of those games in those local markets, although having to share viewership with those 2 games almost unquestionably played a role in the low rating for Game 3.

That being said, the NHL can't be happy about posting a 3 year low in the Cup Final.

Source: