NBC earned a 2.6 overnight for the Kings-Devils NHL Stanley Cup Final Game Five on Saturday night, down 18.8% from a 3.2 overnight for the comparable Bruins-Canucks Game Five last year. The game saw head-to-head competition from Game Seven of the Heat-Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Kings-Devils earned an 8.8 local rating in L.A. and a 4.8 rating in N.Y. (THE DAILY). In Toronto, Kevin McGran wrote the "front office of the NHL might have been almost as disappointed as NBC, fans at the Belmont Stakes and owners of I'll Have Another." The prospect of a Triple Crown race might have "made for the largest audience lead-in for NBC's other big property Saturday night: Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final." The NHL "could use a lot of new eyeballs." This Stanley Cup Final -- "the league's marquee product -- has lacked the buzz of previous years." Part of that could be because the NHL has "gone head-to-head at times with the NBA." In previous years, "the rival league's playoff games have been on alternate nights." But "looking at the bigger picture, the NHL sees an upside." NHL COO John Collins said, "TV ratings are the first metric that everyone points to. It still is the ultimate way of keeping score. But for us, it's not the only metric that's important." He added, "We've been able to pick up a big, important media market in every playoffs (the last few years) and light that place up as a hockey market. I feel like that's happening in Los Angeles. It's not just hockey fans who are into the Kings story, it's the entire market." McGran wrote, "The bottom line for the NHL is that it is growing" (TORONTO STAR, 6/9).
CUP CALL ON HOLD: In N.Y., Paul Brownfield wrote Game Four, which was won by the Devils, was "supposed to have been a coronation" for the Kings, so team TV play-by-play announcer Bob Miller's call was "piped into the concession areas and restrooms at Staples Center so fans could hear his historic broadcast." Miller again "called Game 5 at Prudential Center," something that also "turned out to be a somewhat existential broadcast." Kings VP/Communications & Content Mike Altieri said in an e-mail that "the 'main goal was to capture the calls on tape' to ensure that they were part of the archive." It remains to be seen "whether it's an archive of a Cup win or a collapse" (NYTIMES.com, 6/10).
