Connor Bedard’s Debut Gives ESPN Its Most-Viewed Regular-Season NHL Game Ever
deadline.comConnor Bedard has been called “The Future of Hockey” — since he was 13. Now a ripe old 18, the NHL‘s No. 1 overall pic made his league debut Tuesday, and it became the most-viewed regular-season game ever on ESPN.
The rookie picked up his first NHL point with an assist during his Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-2 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins, who are led by Bedard’s childhood idol, Sidney Crosby.
ESPN said today that the game averaged a network-record 1.43 million total viewers and 676K in the target 18-49 demo. Watch ESPN analyst Emily Kaplan’s postgame interview with a beaming Bedard below.
The Hawks-Pens tilt was Game 2 of the Worldwide Leader’s opening-night tripleheader, which opened with the Tampa Bay Lightning beating the Nashville Predators in a 5:30 pm ET start and capped with the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights knocking off the league’s newest team, the Seattle Kraken, in the nightcap.
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