Bruins, Caps, Pens, Hawks Draw Big Game 1 Ratings

Two ratings reports today.  First has been seen before, from Washington via Comcast Sportsnet:

Comcast SportsNet’s coverage of last night’s Capitals-Rangers first-round Stanley Cup playoff game delivered a 3.3 household rating, reaching approximately 76,000 households, in the Washington, D.C. market, topping all other national and local cable sports networks for the evening including ESPN and MASN.  CSN’s Caps audience peaked during the 9:30-9:45 p.m. quarter hour when approximately 105,800 households (a 4.6 rating) tuned in. Last night’s game posted a 4.5 average household rating in the critical advertising demographic of men aged 18-49.

The Caps’ post-season ratings surge on CSN comes on the heels of a record-breaking ratings season, which delivered the highest-rated Caps season in the history of the network.  This season the Caps posted a 1.1 average (more than 25,000 households), which is a 65% season-over-season increase, and a 182% increase over two seasons.

Imagine if they started winning a few big games.  NBC’s Saturday ratings will be interesting to look at.  Now here’s one we got from NESN, H/T to Cornelius Hardenbergh:

Boston is a hockey town once again — and for everyone out there who still doesn’t believe it, there is statistical evidence.

NESN’s broadcast of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup between the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens drew the third-highest rating of all Bruins games in the history of NESN. The game earned a 9.4 household rating in Boston, the best Game 1 rating in NESN’s 25-year history.

The only two games to earn higher ratings were Game 7 of the 2004 quarterfinals — which the Bruins lost to Montreal, 2-0 — and Game 7 of the 2008 quarterfinals, which the B’s also dropped to the Habs.

“For radio and local television, there’s no comparison to two years ago,” Bruins communications director Matt Chmura  told the Patriot Ledger prior to Game 1. “The daily newspapers have always been good to us, but the local magazines, the weeklies that cover our community events — everything is way, way up.”

Yowser, those are big numbers for Boston.  While it isn’t near the Red Sox home opener, which drew a 17 rating in Beantown, it’s still very encouraging.  As it is in most NHL markets.

UPDATE 2:04 PM ET: Add Pittsburgh to the list of big markets drawing big ratings.  According to the Pens website, the game drew a 14.7 rating, the ninth-highest rated game in Pens history on FSN.  The game beat out CSI: New York, American Idol, Criminal Minds and Bones in the Pittsburgh market, while the Pens post-game show on FSN did better than Law & Order with a 6.9

UPDATE 3:44 PM ET: From the Blackhawks website, the Hawks-Flames Game 1 drew a 4.4 in Chicago.  The ratings peaked at a 5.9 at 9:45 PM CT.  That sets a CSN Chicago record for all Blackhawks games, and is the most-watched Hawks playoff game since Game 5 of the 1994 Conference Quarters vs. Toronto.