NBC said the overnight numbers for its coverage of the third game of the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins were the best Stanley Cup results in six years at a 2.8 rating/5 share.
That was 87% better that the 1.5/3 for game three of the Anaheim Ducks-Ottawa Senators series last year. NBC is airing games 3-7 in primetime.
Not surprisingly, the games cleaned up in the two teams' home cities. The game recorded a whopping 33.1/47 household rating/share in Pittsburgh, according to NBC, and an 18.2/28 in Detroit. The latter number probably would have been higher had the Detroit Pistons not been playing the Boston Celtics at the same time in a key fifth-game National Basketball Association Eastern Conference Finals match-up. Still, the hockey game outdrew basketball in the Motor City, with the latter scoring a 15.9/24.
NBC's next game will be Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
