Tonight, the NBC Sports Group will air three NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games, two of which will be original productions, Game 4 of Boston at Detroit on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET and Game 4 of Colorado at Minnesota at CNBC at 9:30 p.m. ET. The third game, Game 4 of San Jose at Los Angeles on NBCSN will be a simulcast with Comcast SportsNet California.
Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire will be in Detroit. Carolina Hurricanes voices John Forslund and Tripp Tracy will be in Minnesota. The CSN California team of Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda will be in LA.
NBC has also released the announcing assignments for Friday through Sunday and they’re all listed below.
NHL on NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCING ASSIGNMENTS FOR THURSDAY, APRIL 24 (All times ET)
Time Coverage Network Commentators 7 p.m.. NHL Live NBCSN Liam McHugh, Keith Jones, Andrew Ference 8 p.m. Game 4 – (1) Boston at (4) Detroit NBCSN Mike “Doc” Emrick, Pierre McGuire 9 p.m. NHL Live CNBC Russ Thaler, Jeremy Roenick, Anson Carter 9:30 p.m. Game 4 – (1) Colorado at (4) Minnesota CNBC John Forslund, Tripp Tracy 10:30 p.m. Game 4 – (2) San Jose at (3) Los Angeles NBCSN (CSN California simulcast)
Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda TONIGHT – APRIL 24
NHL Live, hosted by Liam McHugh, Keith Jones, and current Edmonton Oilers defenseman and captain Andrew Ference, begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Ference, who joins NHL Live as a guest analyst tonight, is a veteran of more than 950 NHL regular-season and Stanley Cup Playoff games, and won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Boston Bruins in 2011.
Russ Thaler will host NHL Live on CNBC at 9 p.m. ET alongside former NHL forwards and analysts Jeremy Roenick and Anson Carter, leading into coverage of Avalanche-Wild at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Game coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN following NHL Live, as the (4) Detroit Red Wings host the (1) Boston Bruins in Game 4, with the Bruins looking to return to Boston with a chance to win the series in Game 5. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 23 saves in Boston’s 3-0 shutout win in Game 3 on Monday to take a 2-1 series lead. Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mike “Doc” Emrick and Emmy Award-winning ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Pierre McGuire will have the call from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich.
CNBC presents Game 4 between the (1) Colorado Avalanche and (4) Minnesota Wild at 9:30 p.m. ET, with the Avs leading the series 2-1. Fans were treated to a goaltending clinic in Game 3, as Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov and Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper did not allow a single goal in regulation, before Mikael Granlund’s highlight-reel game-winner to give the Wild a 1-0 win. John Forslund (play-by-play) and Tripp Tracy (analyst) will call the action from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
NBCSN’s doubleheader continues at 10:30 p.m. ET as the (2) San Jose Sharks look to sweep the rival (3) Los Angeles Kings and advance to the second round with a win. The Kings led Game 3 by a score of 3-2 in the third period, before Tomas Hertl tied the game midway through the period, and Patrick Marleau scored 6:20 into the extra session to give the Sharks a 4-3 overtime win. Randy Hahn (play-by-play) and Drew Remenda (analyst) will call the action from Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
In the event that the Bruins-Red Wings game on NBCSN runs beyond 10:45 p.m. ET, NHL Network will air puck drop of Sharks-Kings. Sharks-Kings will return to NBCSN immediately following the conclusion of Bruins-Red Wings, where it will be seen in its entirety.
REMINDER: Games airing on cable in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are subject to local blackouts.
Following are NBC Sports Group’s telecast schedule and commentating assignments for the first round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs through Sunday’s games:
FRIDAY, APRIL 25 7 p.m. Game 4 – (2) N.Y. Rangers at (3) Philadelphia CNBC Ken Daniels, Pierre McGuire 8 p.m. Game 5 – (3) Chicago at (2) St. Louis NBCSN Dave Strader, Brian Engblom 10:30 p.m. Game 5 – (4) Dallas at (1) Anaheim NBCSN John Walton, Butch Goring SATURDAY, APRIL 26 3 p.m. Game 5 – (4) Detroit at (1) Boston NBC Doc Emrick, Pierre McGuire 7 p.m. Game 5 – (4) Columbus at (1) Pittsburgh NBCSN Ken Daniels, Joe Micheletti 9:30 p.m. Game 5 – (4) Minnesota at (1) Colorado NBCSN John Forslund, Tripp Tracy 10 p.m. Game 5* – (3) Los Angeles at (2) San Jose CNBC (CSN Calfornia simulcast) Randy Hahn, Drew Remenda SUNDAY, APRIL 27 Noon Game 5 – (3) Philadelphia at (2) N.Y. Rangers NBC Kenny Albert, Pierre McGuire 3 p.m. Game 6 – (2) St. Louis at (3) Chicago NBC Dave Strader, Brian Engblom,
Eddie Olczyk8 p.m. Game 6 – (1) Anaheim at (4) Dallas NBCSN TBD *if necessary
BLUES-BLACKHAWKS GAME 4 DELIVERS STRONG STREAMING VIEWERSHIP
Last night’s Game 4 matchup between the Blues and Blackhawks, in which the Blackhawks defeated the Blues by a score of 4-3 in overtime, was the second-best authentication-required first-round game in all key metrics of the first-round games of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The game delivered 128,000 live starts, 2.31 million minutes watched, 50,000 visits, 45,000 uniques and 46.6 minutes per visit.
GAMES TELEVISED SO FAR
For the third consecutive year, NBC, NBCSN, CNBC and NHL Network are combining to televise every Stanley Cup Playoff game nationally.
Network Games NBC 3 NBCSN 16 CNBC 7 NHL-N 2 Total 28 One-goal Games: 16
OT games: 9
That is all for now.
