St. Louis led all markets for Game 1 with a 29.0 rating, marking NBC Sports' best NHL rating on record thereGETTY IMAGES
NBC drew a 3.7 overnight rating for the Bruins' come-from-behind win over the Blues in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final last night, flat with a 3.7 for last year's Capitals-Golden Knights opener on the same network on Memorial Day Monday. Last year's Game 1 had head-to-head competition with Warriors-Rockets Game 7 in the NBA's Western Conference Finals. Last night's rating is up 6% from a 3.5 overnight for the Penguins-Predators opener on NBC two years ago, also on Memorial Day. St. Louis led all markets last night with a 29.0 rating, marking NBC Sports' best NHL rating on record there. Boston (25.2), Providence (18.8), Buffalo (8.4) and Indianapolis (7.3) rounded out the top 5 (Josh Carpenter, THE DAILY).
STRIKING THE RIGHT CHORD: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar noted Blues TV announcer John Kelly "has been shut out" of doing play-by-play work since the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for FS Midwest because NBC outlets "have had exclusive rights since then." Now, Blues radio play-by-play man Chris Kerber "has offered to let Kelly call the second period of the contests" in the Stanley Cup Final. Kelly's father, Dan Kelly, "called the Blues' last appearance" in the Final on CBS in '70 (STLTODAY.com, 5/27).
