Pens-Caps Game Three Earns Most Second-Round Viewers Since '02

Penguins-Capitals Series Helping To Give Versus Its Best Playoff Ratings So Far

CARRYING THE PUCK: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand writes "whatever bang comes from" the remainder of the Penguins-Capitals series "now will come on" Versus. The net this year "drew its best regular-season ratings and, so far, its best playoff ratings," but it "hasn't sold everybody." NHLPA Exec Dir Paul Kelly has said that veteran players "long for the days when you could find hockey on ESPN." Hiestand notes NBC, which pays "no rights fees to carry NHL games, hasn't announced whether it will continue to cover the NHL next year." NBC "might want the NHL as a tie-in to hyping its 2010 Winter Olympics," but despite the net's efforts to "broaden hockey's TV appeal ... hockey keeps drawing close-to-zero ratings" (USA TODAY, 5/8). In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich wrote if the Penguins-Capitals games were on NBC, they would garner "substantially more [viewers] because NBC is everywhere." Ratings for Versus broadcasts in Chicago are "dismal right now, mainly because Versus is not only absent from most homes, it's not even available to those who want it" (THESTAR.com, 5/7). In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones wrote "who can blame NBC" for showing the PGA Tour The Players Championship instead of NHL games this weekend? Jones: "The network isn't there to promote the NHL. It's a business, and it is going to show what's going to attract the most viewers. And that, in this situation, is golf" (TAMPABAY.com, 5/7). Meanwhile, ESPN's Barry Melrose, when asked about the network possibly regaining NHL rights, said, "I'm biased, of course, but I think if you're a major sport in the [U.S.], you've got to be on ESPN. I know ESPN does sports better than anybody else. I just hope down the road that we do get it back because that will be great for ESPN and great for the NHL" (Albany TIMES UNION, 5/8).

ACCESS DENIED: In DC, Tarik El-Bashir reports Capitals officials were upset about the CBC footage showing Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau's "six 'Keys to Victory' on a dry-erase board, which were captured on camera in the team's dressing room at Mellon Arena" before Wednesday's Game Three of their series against the Penguins. The CBC "had been granted pregame access to the room to show" Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin "putting on his skates and pads." El-Bashir noted the CBC's Mike Milbury and Kelly Hrudey "dissected the keys, going over them point by point." The Capitals "will not permit any locker room shots for Game 4" Friday night (WASHINGTON POST, 5/8). Fanhouse.com's Eric McErlain noted though the original footage was "taken by the CBC," it also aired on Versus, as the CBC by contract is "required to share this footage with Versus" (FANHOUSE.com, 5/7). CBC "Hockey Night In Canada" Exec Producer Sherali Najak acknowledged that the shots "never should have made it to air, but there was no 'malicious intent'" by the net (TORONTO SUN, 5/8). Boudreau said of the CBC, "We give them access to everything, and for them to do that is really unprofessional. And they've been in this game the longest. It's not right, and whoever was in charge of that should be reprimanded very, very harshly" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 5/7). In DC, Dan Steinberg wrote, "Gee thanks, Versus. Maybe next time you can just deliver a copy of this over to the Pens dressing room before the game" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 5/6).

GAME CHANGER: The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin writes NBC and TSN hockey analyst Pierre McGuire, like the CBC's Don Cherry, "has detractors." Dowbiggin: "There's no small-ball with McGuire. Subtlety is not in his DNA." But McGuire has "moved the rock in a game where change is embraced reluctantly." Dowbiggin notes McGuire is reportedly a candidate for the Wild's vacant GM position, and if McGuire were to get the job, the Wild's "gain would be a loss for the masses watching on TV" (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/8).

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