That trend continued Wednesday, as the Stanley Cup Final opener between the Blackhawks and Lightning registered a 4.23 overnight rating in national markets. It was NBC’s second-highest rated Game 1 in the history of the final, trailing only the triple-overtime opener of the 2013 Blackhawks-Bruins series (4.8).
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Wednesday’s game, a 2-1 come-from-behind Blackhawks win, also did well locally. It pulled a 28.0 rating in Chicago, the third-highest rated Blackhawks playoff game ever televised on NBC in the market. Its 17.9 rating in Tampa was the highest ever for any Lightning game on the network.
For comparison, NBC’s coverage of the Bears-49ers NFL game on Sunday night last September did a 31.2 rating in Chicago.
On a national scale, the 4.23 rating is up 11 percent from last year’s Game 1 between the Rangers and Kings, which earned a 3.82.
