FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 3rd, 2020

NBC SPORTS PRESENTS SIX NHL QUALIFYING ROUND MATCHUPS TODAY BEGINNING AT 12 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

Ovechkin, McDavid, Crosby, Kane and Panarin Headline Stars in Action

Today’s NHL Qualifying Round Matchups Begin at 12 p.m. ET – Rangers vs. Hurricanes on NBCSN

Penguins Look to Tie Series Against Canadiens in Primetime at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN

New Jersey Devils Goaltender Cory Schneider Joins Monday’s Coverage as Guest Studio Analyst on NBCSN

Canadiens-Penguins Saturday on NBC is Most-Watched NHL Game of 2019-20 Season Excluding Winter Classic

STAMFORD, Conn. – August 3, 2020 – Coverage of the NHL’s 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifying Round continues today with more than 12 straight hours of live hockey spanning six games — yes, six games! — on NBCSN, beginning with Game 2 of the best-of-five series between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes at 12 p.m. ET. The Hurricanes lead the series 1-0, behind a 3-2 win in Game 1.

Primetime coverage at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN will feature Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins looking to tie the series at one-game apiece against Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens on NBCSN. Tonight’s coverage will be capped at 10:30 p.m. ET, when Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers face Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks, with Chicago leading the series 1-0.

Kathryn Tappen and Liam McHugh will combine to host today’s studio coverage alongside studio analysts Eddie Olczyk, Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp, as well as guest analyst and current New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.

NBC Sports will present up to 120 hours of coverage from the NHL’s 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers on NBC, NBCSN and USA Network beginning tomorrow, highlighted by at least 10 hours of wall-to-wall NHL action each day from August 1-5, comprised of Qualifying Round and Round Robin matchups. In total, more than 25 NHL games will be shown on NBCSN in a seven-day span.

Qualifying Round series are best-of-five and will be contested between the teams seeded 5th through 12th in each conference. The winners of those series will join the top four teams from each conference, who will play round robin games to determine seeding, in the traditional 16-team Stanley Cup Playoffs format.

Today’s NHL schedule on NBCSN is below:

Date Coverage Network Time (ET) Commentators
Mon., August 3 Game 2 – N.Y. Rangers vs. Carolina NBCSN 12 p.m. Gord Miller, Anson Carter
  Game 2 – Winnipeg vs. Calgary NBCSN 2:30 p.m. Chris Cuthbert, Louie DeBrusk
  Washington vs. Tampa Bay (Round Robin)

 

 NBCSN 4 p.m. John Forslund, Mike Milbury, Brian Boucher
  Dallas vs. Vegas (Round Robin) NBCSN 6:30 p.m. Dave Goucher, Shane Hnidy
  Game 2 – Montreal vs. Pittsburgh NBCSN 8 p.m. John Forslund, Mike Milbury, Brian Boucher
  Game 2 – Chicago vs. Edmonton NBCSN 10:30 p.m. Kenny Albert, AJ
Mleczko, Pierre McGuire

 

CANADIENS-PENGUINS SATURDAY ON NBC IS MOST-WATCHED NHL GAME OF 2019-20 SEASON EXCLUDING WINTER CLASSIC

The NHL season resumed Saturday, Aug. 1, with five Stanley Cup Qualifier games, including two on NBC that featured Canadian teams and set viewership milestones, according to Fast National data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics. Click here for full details.

  • Canadiens-Penguins on NBC (8-11:29 p.m. ET) averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.572 million viewers, making it the most-watched NHL game of the 2019-20 season, excluding the Winter Classic;
  • The TAD of 1.572 million viewers was up 46% vs. the 2019-20 NHL regular-season average on NBC (1.074 million);
  • Canadiens-Penguins is the most-watched game ever on NBC to feature a Canadian team (excluding Winter Classics and traditional playoff games);
  • The two NBC games (MTL-PIT and CHI-EDM) The game averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.572 million viewers, making it the most-watched NHL game of the 2019-20 season, excluding the Winter Classic;
  • The TAD of 1.572 million viewers was up 46% vs. the 2019-20 NHL regular-season average on NBC (1.074 million);
  • Canadiens-Penguins is the most-watched game ever on NBC to feature a Canadian team (excluding Winter Classics and traditional playoff games).

—NBC SPORTS—