A local horse race helped the NHL to one of its biggest opening-game ratings for the playoffs in nearly three decades.
Saturday, after the Preakness Stakes aired, NBC broadcast Game One of the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins first-round series. According to NBC Sports PR, the Capitals’ 3-2 overtime victory registered a Total Audience Delivery of 2.31 million viewers. It’s the most-watched Game One on record in the first round of the NHL Playoffs since 1995.
NBC Sports’ @PreaknessStakes is most-watched since 2018 & leads into NBC Sports’ most-watched @NHL Stanley Cup Playoff first-round opener ever.https://t.co/qMCYmHBZk5
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) May 18, 2021
NBC added that the game peaked with 3.14 million TV-only viewers. The ratings were boosted locally by the cities of Boston (9.2/21), Providence (8.9/18), Baltimore (3.9/8), and Washington DC (3.4/9). Boston had the largest local ratings for the game, while Baltimore and DC finished fifth and sixth respectively.
TOP METERED MARKETS FOR BRUINS-CAPITALS GAME 1
| Rank | City | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | 9.2/21 |
| 2 | Providence | 8.9/18 |
| 3 | Ft. Myers | 4.2/8 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh | 3.9/8 |
| 5 | Baltimore | 3.7/9 |
| 6 | Washington DC | 3.4/9 |
| 7 | Buffalo | 3.1/6 |
| 8 | Las Vegas | 2.8/7 |
| 9 | Tampa | 2.7/6 |
| 10 | West Palm Beach | 2.5/5 |
The Capitals-Bruins game was the most-watched game at any point in a first-round series since Game Six of the Penguins-Flyers in 2018 (2.4 million on April 22, 2018).
The Preakness, the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, had 7 million viewers on Saturday, tripling its viewership from the year before (2.4 million). It was the most-watched Preakness since 2018 when Justify won the Woodlawn Vase.
