The Flyers and Penguins put on a pretty good show Wednesday in the NHL's very first game of the 2020-21 season. The Flyers ended up giving the final bows and closing the curtain on the evening with three third-period goals to punctuate a 6-3 win at the Wells Fargo Center.
If the Flyers wanted to make an early statement, they did so with plenty watching.
The game on NBCSN averaged a total audience delivery of 972,000 viewers, making it the network's most-watched regular-season game on record, according to NBC Sports communications.
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The Flyers-Penguins game kicked off NBC Sports Network's tripleheader, which averaged a total audience delivery of 774,000 viewers, giving the network its most-watched multi-game opening night on record.
Most fans seemed to thoroughly enjoy the 5:30 p.m. ET start time for the Flyers-Penguins game. With not having to worry about fans making their way to the arena during rush hour after work, a 5:30 p.m. ET start time on a Wednesday made fine sense. Fans were thirsty to watch hockey, didn't have to wait too long and didn't have to stay up too late.
“We’re thrilled with these opening night tripleheader viewership results and that the league was willing to take a chance on our recommendation to start the season with Penguins-Flyers in the late afternoon,” NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood said in a release. “We can now add the most-watched opening night cable game on record to our impressive list of NHL viewership milestones, which includes the most-watched regular season on record and the most-watched NHL game on record, among others.”
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