NHL Playoffs Deliver Record Second-Round Ratings for ESPN, TNT

The NHL extended its massive viewership tear during the postseason’s second round, once again posting unprecedented audiences in the league’s current set of U.S. media deals. 

ESPN said it averaged 2.2 million viewers for the now-complete second round, up 76% from 2025 and the largest such figure in the NHL rights agreement that began five years ago. 

That run culminated with an average of 3 million viewers Monday for Montreal’s Game 7 overtime victory over Buffalo, representing the largest audience thus far of the entire playoffs. Saturday’s Game 6 of the Canadiens-Sabres series averaged 2.7 million viewers, marking the most-watched game of the postseason until Monday. 

TNT Sports, meanwhile, finished its second-round coverage with an average per-game audience of 1.9 million viewers, up 33% from last year and also its most-watched second round since beginning its NHL rights in 2021. Including the first round, the network is averaging 1.3 million viewers for the NHL playoffs, up 51% from a year ago. 

Notably, women have been a key growth driver, as TNT Sports said its NHL playoffs viewership among females ages two and older was up 66% through the second round.

Bigger Trends

The latest NHL figures follow similarly historic viewership in the first round on both ESPN and TNT Sports, and also extend a banner spring throughout much of sports media. Other leagues and events, including MLB, the NBA, and the Kentucky Derby, have also posted big audience gains in recent weeks. 

The one major outlier to the trend is the NFL, which saw the audience for its draft last month fall by 12%—in part due to a relative lack of major name recognition among the selected players after No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza.

The sports viewership boosts are also happening amid a still-evolving measurement situation for Nielsen. The agency has already expanded its out-of-home methodology and introduced the Big Data + Panel process since the beginning of last year. The next step for Nielsen is the likely rollout this fall of an enhanced tabulation of co-viewing within households.

ESPN will begin coverage Wednesday night of the NHL Western Conference final between the Avalanche and Golden Knights, while TNT Sports will start its coverage Thursday of the Eastern Conference final between the Hurricanes and Canadiens.