NHL ratings surge

National Hockey League TV audiences are opening the Stanley Cup playoffs at their strongest level in 14 years, after a regular season and first weekend that both set new marks for the league’s current U.S. media deals. (sportico.com, espnpressroom.com) ESPN said its five-game opening playoff slate averaged 1.6 million viewers, the most-watched opening weekend of its current rights era, and that Boston Bruins-Buffalo Sabres drew 1.7 million viewers on Sunday, the third most-watched first-round cable game on record excluding Game 7s. Flyers-Penguins led the weekend at 2.1 million viewers, with Wild-Stars at 1.9 million. (espnpressroom.com) The next Bruins-Sabres game shifts to Boston at 7 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 23, with TNT and truTV carrying Game 3 as the series sits tied 1-1. NHL.com’s first-round schedule also lists TNT and truTV for Game 4 in Boston on April 26 and Game 5 in Buffalo on April 28. (nhl.com) The audience jump has been building for months, not just one weekend. ESPN said its 2025-26 regular season coverage averaged 760,000 viewers, up 30% from last year, while games on ESPN rose 48% year over year and games on ABC rose 33%. (espnpressroom.com) Some of the biggest spikes came in national showcase windows. ESPN said the Bruins-Lightning Stadium Series game on Feb. 1 averaged 2.1 million viewers, the most-watched National Hockey League regular-season game ever on cable, and ABC’s Penguins-Red Wings game on Jan. 3 averaged 1.6 million, the network’s best hockey audience of the current deal. (espnpressroom.com, espnpressroom.com) Warner Bros. Discovery also widened its National Hockey League footprint before the postseason. TNT Sports said in August that NHL on TNT would expand to 72 regular-season games in 2025-26, with 14 Tuesday nights, 21 Wednesday nights and added Sunday afternoon windows in spring 2026. (press.wbd.com) That gave the league more national inventory across ESPN, ABC, TNT and truTV before the playoffs began. Sportico reported that expanded windows and heavier broadcaster attention helped lift the league into its best ratings position since 2012. (sportico.com) The playoff bracket itself has also produced fresh matchups. The Sabres and Bruins are both back in the postseason after missing last year, and the league had six teams in this year’s field that did not qualify in 2025, according to playoff coverage published when the bracket was set. (bleacherreport.com, nhl.com) Now the test is whether those regular-season gains carry deeper into May. Thursday night’s Bruins-Sabres game gives TNT and truTV a live read on whether the league’s strongest audience run in more than a decade can keep climbing. (nhl.com, sportico.com)