TNT, TBS Smash First-Round Ratings Record for NHL Playoffs

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports says that its first-round NHL playoff broadcasts on TNT and TBS reached an average of 959,000 viewers, setting a new record as the all-time most-watched first-round of the NHL playoffs on cable. 

The record breaks last year’s first-round mark of 768,000 average viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and TBS, which was also an NHL cable viewership record. 

Viewership for NHL first-round games on TNT and TBS was up 18% this year compared to the networks’ first-round ratings in 2022.

On Sunday, TNT’s Game 7 telecast of the Florida Panthers’ comeback victory over the Boston Bruins scored 3.2 million viewers, the most-watched NHL first-round game ever on a cable network. The epic Game 7 peaked at 4.1 million viewers on TNT.

In the Western Conference, the Seattle Kraken’s win on Sunday against the defending champion Colorado Avalanche drew more than 2 million viewers on TNT—making it the most-watched late-window game ever recorded in the NHL’s first round.