Pre-Game Coverage Starts at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN; Includes Features on Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel and Nashville’s Ryan Ellis
Transcript – NBC Sports Stanley Cup Final Media Conference Call
Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final Averages 5 Million Viewers, Up 22% vs. Last Year
Doc Emrick & Pierre McGuire Make Sandwiches at Pittsburgh’s Iconic Primanti Bros. – “Doc’s Old School Pitts-burger” & “Inside The Bread with Pierre”
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 31, 2017 – NBC Sports continues its coverage of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa., with Game 2 tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN, when Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins host P.K. Subban and the Nashville Predators. Pre-game coverage begins tonight at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN with a special two-hour edition of NHL Live.
NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs – will provide streaming coverage of 2017 Stanley Cup Final.
Five-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member and analyst Eddie Olczyk, and Emmy Award-winning ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Pierre McGuire will provide commentary from Pittsburgh. This marks the 11th consecutive year that Emrick, Olczyk and McGuire will combine to call the Stanley Cup Final for NBC Sports.
Host Liam McHugh will anchor pre-game, intermission and studio coverage on-site throughout the series, alongside analysts and former players Mike Milbury and Keith Jones. In addition, Kathryn Tappen and Paul Burmeister will host coverage from outside sets in Pittsburgh and Nashville, alongside analysts and former players Jeremy Roenick, Brian Boucher, and Anson Carter.
Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final on NBC, in which the Pittsburgh Penguins held on for an exciting 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa., averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 5.038 million viewers, up 22% vs. last year’s Game 1 between the Penguins and San Jose Sharks (4.132 million).
Despite neither Nashville (#29) nor Pittsburgh (#23) being a Top 20 TV market, the contest was the third-most watched Game 1 since NBC Sports began televising the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, behind only Boston-Chicago in 2013, which are the #9 and #3 TV markets, respectively, and Chicago-Tampa Bay (#11) in 2015. Click here for more information.
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TRANSCRIPT – NBC SPORTS STANLEY CUP FINAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL
On Tuesday afternoon, NBC Sports Group’s lead NHL broadcast team of Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick (play-by-play), Eddie Olczyk (analyst), and Pierre McGuire (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst), as well as NBC Sports Group executive producer Sam Flood, reviewed Monday’s Game 1 and took a look ahead to the rest of the Stanley Cup Final on a media conference call. Following are excerpts from the call. Click here for the full transcript.
Emrick on rebirth of hockey in Pittsburgh and Nashville: “It’s not that long ago that the players of the Predators bought season tickets and gave them out. They bought suites because they had to protect the franchise from being moved. In Pittsburgh, Mario rescued the franchise, not once but twice — once on the ice and once in the boardroom, or this might have been a casualty. And these rebirth stories are magnificent. That’s why it’s so wonderful to think about what’s going on in Nashville, and to think about now eight, nine years later, after the Mario rescue here, in Pittsburgh.”
McGuire’s reaction to Game 1: “The number one thing (Pittsburgh’s) Coach Sullivan has to do is make an in-series adjustment in terms of how they move the puck out of their own zone… Nashville is a legit team; they’re not Cinderella. They’re a really, really good team. The St. Louis Blues found that out, the Anaheim Ducks found that out, and the Chicago Blackhawks surely found it out. And after Game 1 Pittsburgh now knows it, too.”
Olczyk: “Go back to round one. Yes, they took out the Columbus Blue Jackets…even though it was five games officially in the record book, it was more like six-and-a-half games or seven because of how hard Columbus and Pittsburgh played in those five games. So it takes its toll. I think (Game 1) had a lot to do with just the energy level being low (for Pittsburgh) and how Nashville, how they played for a good 50-some minutes of that game where they dictated the terms. And that doesn’t happen to the Penguins very often.”
McGuire looking ahead to Games 3 and 4 in Nashville: “It’s more than just a hockey game in Nashville. It’s an event…as loud as any building I’ve ever experienced. So clearly they’ve done a masterful job both in the building and outside of the building. And the drafting’s been phenomenal. The coaching is excellent. The management has been really solid. I just think it’s built to last.”
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STANLEY CUP FINAL GAME 2 – PREDATORS-PENGUINS – TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. ET ON NBCSN
The defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins won Game 1 by a score of 5-3 on Monday night in Pittsburgh, despite a smothering defensive effort by the Predators. The Penguins scored three times in a 4:11 span late in the first period to take a 3-0 lead, but lost that lead during a 37-minute stretch in which they did not record a shot on goal. Jake Guentzel, who had not scored since the second round, snapped Pittsburgh’s shotless streak and netted the go-ahead goal with 3:17 remaining in regulation (his league-leading 10th of the postseason), while Nick Bonino added an empty-netter to seal the win.
Nashville outshot Pittsburgh 26-12, including 9-0 in the 2nd period. The 12 shots by the Penguins were the fewest by any team to win a Stanley Cup Final game since the 1967 expansion. The Game 1 winner of the last five Stanley Cup Finals has gone on to win the series.
DOC EMRICK & PIERRE MCGUIRE MAKE SANDWICHES AT PITTSBURGH’S ICONIC PRIMANTI BROS. – “DOC’S OLD SCHOOL PITTS-BURGER” & “INSIDE THE BREAD WITH PIERRE”
On Tuesday, Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire took a trip to Pittsburgh’s iconic Primanti Bros. to make their own sandwiches. The duo made their sandwiches at the original Primanti Bros. 18th Street location in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Pre-game coverage tonight will include a feature with Emrick and McGuire from Primanti’s. Emrick and McGuire both have Pittsburgh ties – Emrick has been a lifelong Pirates fan, while McGuire won two Stanley Cups as a member of the Penguins’ coaching staff in 1991 and 1992.
“Doc’s Old School Pitts-Burger” pays homage to his Pirates fandom with Pirates-yellow mustard, and pickle chips which harken the green hues of the grass and home run fence at PNC Park. We go “Inside The Bread with Pierre” and find a combination of Cajun chicken and American cheese, in honor of McGuire’s French-Canadian and American roots. Click here for a picture of Emrick and McGuire sampling their Primanti’s creations.
- “Doc’s Old School Pitts-Burger” – Pitts-burger, mustard, pickle chips and provolone served Primanti-style with French fries, slaw and tomato;
- “Inside The Bread with Pierre” – Cajun chicken, American cheese, served Primanti-style with French fries, slaw and tomato.
Following is the full telecast schedule for the remainder of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final with networks and start times. Pre-game coverage will begin each night with NHL Live at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
| Date | Coverage | Network | Time (ET) |
| Wed., May 31 | Game 2 – Nashville at Pittsburgh | NBCSN | 8 p.m. |
| Sat., June 3 | Game 3 – Pittsburgh at Nashville | NBCSN | 8 p.m. |
| Mon., June 5 | Game 4 – Pittsburgh at Nashville | NBC | 8 p.m. |
| Thur., June 8 | Game 5 – Nashville at Pittsburgh* | NBC | 8 p.m. |
| Sun., June 11 | Game 6 – Pittsburgh at Nashville* | NBC | 8 p.m. |
| Wed., June 14 | Game 7 – Nashville at Pittsburgh * | NBC | 8 p.m. |
*if necessary
NBCSPORTS.COM & NBC SPORTS APP
NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will stream all Stanley Cup Playoff games to desktops, tablets, and connected TVs. The NBC Sports app will stream coverage via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value to their subscription service, and making high-quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. Powered by Playmaker Media, the NBC Sports app is available on Apple iOS, Android and select Samsung devices, as well as on Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Win10, and Xbox.
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