Stadium Series Hands ESPN Best NHL Ratings Since 2021 With An Assist From Mother Nature

The NHL held back-to-back Stadium Series games this past weekend with the Flyers and Devils playing on Saturday and the Rangers and Islanders taking the ice on Sunday.

That second game especially proved to be a massive success for ESPN. The inter-city battle, which included a stunning New York Rangers overtime comeback, became the most-watched regular season NHL game since ESPN regained TV rights in 2021, drawing 1.6 million viewers.

According to Sports Media Watch, this put Sunday's Stadium Series game behind the NBA All-Star Game, the Genesis Invitational, Purdue-Ohio State men's basketball, and the All-Star Game tip-off show.

There's obviously a lot of room to grow, but that's exactly what the NHL will want to see. Especially after the ratings for the Winter Classic a month and a half earlier were BRUUUTAL.

Of course, that's what happens when the game competes directly with the Rose Bowl…

That's undoubtedly great news for the NHL and ESPN, but it's worth noting that they got a little bit of help, specifically from Mother Nature.

The Rangers-Islanders game was scheduled to start right in the middle of the Daytona 500. NASCAR isn't destroying in the ratings like it was at the peak of the Earnhardt-Gordon rivalry, but if there's a race that's going to perform well, it's the Daytona 500.

Fortunately for the NHL, Daytona got hammered with rain all weekend, which pushed the race to Monday night.

That reduced competition was a big help for the NHL, which routinely runs into TV conflicts with other events. The league may want to think it has the weight to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the Rose Bowl, but it can't.

The league got thrown a bone this time, and maybe they've learned their lesson. The next Stadium Series game will be held in Columbus, but not until March. That will help it steer clear of these potentially viewer-sucking conflicts with the NBA and NASCAR and their major events.