ORLANDO, Fla. – Facing elimination and watching the Vancouver Canucks skate with the trophy on the ice at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins exploded early and often, turning game six of the Stanley Cup finals into a rout. It could have been a disaster for NBC and its broadcast of the contest. Or maybe not.
When the overnight numbers came in for Monday night’s telecast, they told a slightly 
different story than the drama-less 5-2 Bruins victory that forced a deciding game seven back in Vancouver. In fact, it turned out fairly well.
Over the course of the evening, an average of approximately 5.26 million viewers clicked over to NBC to watch part or all of the game. The 3.9 rating was far and away the best-rated game on network television during the 2011 playoff season. It also earned an average of a 1.8 rating in the adult 18-49 demographic, falling in the top three most viewed programs by that key group Monday night.
Viewership peaked between 9:30 and 10 p.m. eastern as 5.71 million were tuned in. That half hour also produced the best rating for the 18-49 demo, posting a 2.1 that would be equaled in the broadcast’s final half hour (10:30-11 p.m.) when 5.59 million viewers overall were watching.
Although the ratings were down 33 percent from game six of the 2010 finals which turned out to be the Cup clinching game for Chicago (which garnered a 5.8 rating), it was dead even with the sixth game of the 2009 series between Pittsburgh and Detroit. That was the last time NBC aired a non-clinching sixth game and is the highest-rated game six since the NHL lockout cancelled the 2004-2005 season.
The 3.9 was however up a startling 44 percent from the 2006 finals game six between Carolina and Edmonton -the last time a game six had a Canadian team participating.
As it has all series long, Boston led the local markets with a whopping 33.3 rating and a 48 share. Providence, RI was the second highest local, scoring an 18.4 rating and 28 share. Rounding out the top five were Buffalo (9.1/14), Hartford (5.8/9) and St. Louis (5.0/8).
As expected, the broadcast played very well north of the border. In anticipation of seeing a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1993, CBC’s “Hockey Night In Canada” broadcast set a record by averaging 6.6 million viewers. That makes game six the highest-rated NHL broadcast in CBC’s long and storied history. The game peaked at 8.1 million viewers near the end of the first period and reached a total of 16.2 million viewers—the most ever for the final on CBC.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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