ORLANDO, Fla.- Friday night’s game five of the Stanley Cup finals certainly brought plenty of joy and anticipation for the fans of the Vancouver Canucks and aggravation and frustration for supporters of the Boston Bruins. If you happened to be an employee of the NHL and U.S. television partner NBC, it was more of a mixed bag.
The 1-0 Vancouver victory was seen in the U.S. by some 4.35 million viewers on NBC. 
The number represents an increase over the 3.56 million who watched game two a little over a week ago on a Saturday night also on NBC.
Compared to game five of the 2010 Finals between Philadelphia and Chicago, this year’s contest had 27 percent fewer viewers than the 5.95 million who watched a season ago on a Sunday night when more people were home to tune in. This year’s numbers were however 2 percent higher than game five of the 2009 finals between Pittsburgh and Detroit. The 2009 game drew in 4.28 million viewers on a Saturday night.
Additionally, the NBC broadcast picked up a 1.6 rating and 5 share in the adult 18-49 demographic area, which is a key area for corporate sponsors and advertising sales. It helped NBC to win the ratings battle for the evening over all other broadcast networks as both ABC and CBS had a 1.0 rating for its programming up against the game.
Local market breakdowns are expected to be available on Monday.
Numbers for CBC’s “Hockey Night In Canada” were not available for this report. It is expected that with the Canucks one win away from winning its first ever Stanley Cup as well as the first by a Canadian team since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Los Angeles Kings in 1993 that much of the country will tune in for Monday’s game six
Contact the author at don.monney@prohockeynews.com
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