The Florida Panthers’ 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in game 7 of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals marked the most-viewed NHL matchup in five years after drawing an average of 7.7 million viewers, according to ESPN.
The Panthers won in a 2-1 victory Monday night. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The hotly contested game’s average of 7.7 million viewers outperformed the viewership of the 2023 and 2022 Stanley Cup Finals by 182% and 32%, respectively, though neither series reached game 7.
Monday’s game peaked at 10.3 million viewers and became the most watched NHL game ever on the ESPN+ streaming platform, which launched in 2018.
This year’s full Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.2 million viewers per game and 1.5 million people in the 18-49 demographic, recording 58% and 43% increases from last year’s finals, respectively, according to ESPN.
Women viewed this year’s championship series significantly more than last year’s installment, recording a 66% increase in viewership.
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The final game of this year’s NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks averaged 12.2 million viewers and peaked at 13.2 million viewers.
The Panthers’ game 7 win marks the first time in their 30-year history that the team has brought home the Stanley Cup. The champions avoided blowing a 3-0 lead in the series against the Oilers, who had a chance to become the first team in more than 80 years to come back from such a deficit in the Finals. The Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart scored a goal each for the win, which was supplemented by Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s 23 saves.
The Panthers’ win over Edmonton also extends a historic title drought for Canadian teams. The most recent Canada-based team to win the Stanley Cup was the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.
Florida Panthers Defy Odds To Capture First Stanley Cup (Forbes)
How the Panthers avoided historic collapse to win their first Stanley Cup with 2-1 Game 7 win: 5 takeaways (The Athletic)