Saturday night's intense 4-Nations Face-Off clash between Canada and the United States was must-watch TV.
It was the first time in over a decade that the two bordering nations battled in a best-on-best clash, and it absolutely did not disappoint. That much was evidenced not only by the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the game across social media, but the TV ratings, too.
Nielson's first national data indicates that the showdown between Canada and the USA at the Bell Centre in Montreal was the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Final hockey telecast since 2019, having garnered an average of 4.4 million viewers and a peak of 5.2 million on ABC, per Alex M. Silverman of Sports Business Journal.
It's not only the USA-Canada showdown that drew massive ratings, either. The Canada-Sweden game and the USA-Finland matchup drew 4.1 million and 3.4 million viewers, respectively, both vastly exceeding the league's expectations heading into the four-team tournament, per The Athletic.
Those are some huge figures for the NHL, which has struggled to make strides when it comes to ratings for its regular season games this year. A recent clash between the San Jose Sharks and Seattle Kraken on ESPN drew just 175,000 viewers, and a TNT showdown between the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils had just 253,000 average viewers. Both games were outdrawn by the East-West Shrine Bowl on ESPN.
Despite some lackluster results in the regular season, it's clear that fans are tuning in and loving the 4-Nations Face-Off, which has ultimately been a smashing success thus far. The league will hope those ratings persist when the tournament resumes on Monday.
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Karl Rasmussen is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News team for Sports Illustrated. A University of Oregon alum who joined SI in February 2023, his work has appeared on 12up and ClutchPoints. Rasmussen is a loyal Tottenham, Jets, Yankees and Ducks fan.
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