Capitals Fans Really Ready For The Play Off As Capital -Rangers Game Sets New NHL Record.
The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers renewed acquaintances in the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade on Sunday and a huge national audience tuned in.
According to ESPN PR, Game One of the Capitals-Rangers series was the most viewed opening game of a first-round NHL playoff series ever on cable. The game, a Rangers 4-1 win, peaked at 1.5 million viewers and held an average of 1.3 million viewers.
Game One at Madison Square Garden was the first in the 10th-ever playoff series between the Capitals and Rangers. The two teams have seemingly always battled to exciting finishes with four of the last five series all going to seven games.
The two sides haven’t matched up with each other since 2015 when Derek Stepan scored in overtime of Game Seven to send the Capitals packing in the second round.
The 2024 playoffs are Washington’s return to the postseason after they missed out in 2023 under current Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. The team has yet to win a playoff series since they won the Stanley Cup in 2018.
ESPN also reports that all four of Sunday’s first-round games averaged 1.04 million viewers, up 65 percent from the 2023 playoffs. They were also up 48 percent in the key P18-49 age demographic.
Additionally, Game Two between the two clubs was the second-most viewed Game Two of a first-round NHL playoff series on cable since 1997.
Game Three and Game Four, hosted at Capital One Arena in DC, will also be nationally televised on TNT and TBS. Monumental Sports Network will again carry the games locally.
The Capitals have been bringing in ratings for Monumental Sports Network as well. The Capitals-Flyers game that determined Washington’s playoff berth was the most-watched Caps game locally in more than two years.