A lot of people are watching in Chicago.
A lot of them are not very happy.
Perhaps it adds to the pleasure you got from watching the Tampa Bay Lightning take a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals, but it’s easy to imagine a lot of Blackhawks fans swearing at their television sets as they watched the Lightning’s 3-2 victory.
According to NBC, Chicago had its best-ever local number (24 percent) on NBCSN to fuel a 2.88 national overnight rating. The number is 14 percent better than last year’s Game 3. It’s the second-best rating for a Stanley Cup Final game in the network’s history, behind only Game 3 of the 2013 series between Boston and Chicago.
Now, remember all of those critics from New York who said no one would watch if the Lightning made it? Well, they’re watching. Maybe because Game of Thrones isn’t on.
The Top 5 markets for last night’s Game 3 on NBCSN: Chicago (24.00), Tampa (13.20), Buffalo (4.27), Boston (4.23) and Providence (3.84).
Tampa’s rating was also its best-ever on NBCSN. Although the Blackhawks have been on the network slightly more often than the Lightning.
