There is further proof that the NHL continues to gain in popularity.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday earned Versus a 1.7 rating, the highest hockey rating ever for the cable network.

It was also the most-watched hockey telecast in the three years the NHL has been on Versus. A total of 2,345,834 viewers watched the Penguins’ 4-2 win.

Viewership topped the previous record set during the Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal between the Penguins and New York Rangers on May 1 (1,184,519 total viewers), and the rating surpassed the previous high (1.1) set during the 2006 Conference Final round with Game 7 of the Buffalo/Carolina series.
The telecast was the second-highest rated (1.7) and second most-watched telecast ever in network history among households (1,262,514) behind only Lance Armstrong’s final ride in the 2005 Tour de France (2.1/1,323,018).
The game earned a 22.3 rating in Pittsburgh, a 9.4 in Philadelphia and a 100 in my house. Unfortunately, I wasn’t happy with the outcome.