NEW YORK (AP) - The opener to the Stanley Cup final drew the best preliminary rating for a Game 1 in 12 years.
The Vancouver Canucks' last-second 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins earned a 3.2 overnight rating and 6 share on NBC on Wednesday. That's up 14 percent from last year's Philadelphia-Chicago Game 1 and the highest since a 3.7 for Buffalo-Dallas in 1999.
The rating was boosted by heavy interest in Boston's large market, which posted a 25.5/39, topping the 19.1/34 for Game 1 of last year's Celtics-Lakers NBA finals.
Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program. Shares represent the percentage of all homes with TVs in use at the time. Overnight ratings measure the country's largest markets.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.