The NHL is heading to ESPN and TNT in the fall, but before they do, they have one more Stanley Cup champion to crown. All 4-7 games of the Stanley Cup will appear on the NBC family of networks, with games 1-2 already aired on NBCSN, and games 3-7 (the final three if necessary) set for NBC. Despite having a Canadian team in the finals for the first time in a decade, the Game 1 ratings between Montreal and Tampa were down 54 percent from 2019.

According to Sportico, 1.57 million viewers tuned into the game that saw the Lightning win 5-1. The game did have a couple things working against it. For starters, it aired on NBCSN, which will soon be discontinued as a channel, and whose slogan may as well be, "the station that'll have bartenders asking, 'what channel is that on?'" Second, and more importantly, the game ran concurrently with Game 5 of Suns and Clippers, where Phoenix missed an opportunity to clinch its first Finals berth since Charles Barkley played in The Valley. That game drew 5.74 million viewers over on ESPN.

The numbers figure to pick up as the series moves along. Tampa is currently up 2-0, and whether they work their way closer to close-out games, or Montreal makes a series out of it when they return home, it figures to garner more eyeballs. Add in that each game moving forward will be on NBC, as well. Game 3 is set for Friday at 8 p.m.