FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 4th, 2020
NHL STANLEY CUP QUALIFYING ROUND CONTINUES WITH SIX MATCHUPS TODAY ON NBCSN BEGINNING AT 12 P.M. ET
Today’s Qualifying Round Action Begins at Noon ET Between Panthers and Islanders on NBCSN
Rangers Face Elimination vs. Hurricanes Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN – Carolina Leads Series 2-0
New Jersey Devils Goaltender Cory Schneider Returns as Guest Studio Analyst During Today’s Coverage
Flyers-Bruins Sunday on NBC is Second-Most Watched NHL Game of 2019-20 Season Excluding Winter Classic
STAMFORD, Conn. – August 4, 2020 – NBC Sports continues its coverage of the NHL’s 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifying Round today with more than 12 consecutive hours of live hockey across six games on NBCSN and USA Network, beginning with Game 2 of the best-of-five series between the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders at 12 p.m. ET. The Islanders lead the series 1-0.
Primetime coverage at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN will feature Artemi Panarin and the New York Rangers looking to fight off elimination against Sebastian Aho and the Carolina Hurricanes, who lead the series 2-0. In the nightcap, Eric Staal and the Minnesota Wild will face Quinn Hughes and the Vancouver Canucks at 10:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, with the Wild leading the series 1-0.
Kathryn Tappen and Liam McHugh will combine to host today’s studio coverage alongside studio analysts Keith Jones, Anson Carter and Patrick Sharp, as well as guest analyst and current New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.
Last night, Carter and his NHL on NBC studio colleagues Tappen and Sharp discussed the impact and message of Vegas Golden Knights players Ryan Reaves and Robin Lehner and Dallas Stars players Tyler Seguin and Jason Dickinson kneeling for the American and Canadian national anthems.
NBC Sports will present up to 120 hours of coverage from the NHL’s 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers on NBC, NBCSN and USA Network, 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 |
| Tues., August 4 | Game 2 – Florida vs. N.Y. Islanders | NBCSN | 12 p.m. | Mike Tirico, Eddie Olczyk, Brian Boucher |
| Game 2 – Arizona vs. Nashville | NBCSN | 2:30 p.m. | TBD | |
| Game 2 – Columbus vs. Toronto
|
NBCSN | 4 p.m. | Gord Miller, Mike Milbury, Brian Boucher | |
| Game 3 – Winnipeg vs. Calgary | NBCSN | 6:30 p.m. | Chris Cuthbert, Louie DeBrusk | |
| Game 3 – Carolina vs. N.Y. Rangers | NBCSN | 8 p.m. | John Forslund, Mike Milbury, Brian Boucher | |
| Game 2 – Minnesota vs. Vancouver | USA Network | 10:30 p.m. | Brendan Burke, Pierre McGuire |
FLYERS-BRUINS SUNDAY ON NBC IS SECOND-MOST WATCHED NHL GAME OF 2019-20 SEASON EXCLUDING WINTER CLASSIC
Sunday’s afternoon’s coverage of the Flyers-Bruins Round-Robin game averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.450 million viewers on NBC, making it the second-most watched NHL game of the season behind only Saturday night’s Canadiens-Penguins game (1.572 million), excluding the Winter Classic.
The Flyers’ 4-1 victory over the Bruins was up 30% compared to the Blackhawks-Oilers Qualifier matchup a day earlier on NBC (1.117 million viewers) and up 35% vs. the 2019-20 NHL regular-season average on NBC (1.074 million). Viewership peaked at the end of the game with 1.853 million viewers (5:45-6 p.m. ET).
Digitally, the game delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 26,200 viewers, making it the third-most streamed game of the 2019-20 season behind the Capitals-Blues season opener (38,100 viewers) and Saturday night’s Canadiens-Penguins Qualifier (27,800).
The Top 5 Markets for the game are:
1 Philadelphia 6.8
2 Boston 5.1
3 Providence 3.8
t4 Pittsburgh 1.8
t4 Las Vegas 1.8
Saturday night’s Canadiens-Penguins matchup was the most-watched game of the season so far, excluding the Winter Classic. Click here for complete details.
—NBC SPORTS—
