Connor 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.
The three-game season-opening telecasts averaged 909K total viewers — peaking at 1.65 million — and 439K in the demo. Those numbers were up by 40% and 45%, respectively, over last year’s opening-night doubleheader on ESPN, the network said. It added that Tuesday’s primetime games jumped by 64% and 71% over the 2022 openers.
RELATED: TNT Extends Deals For Wayne Gretzky, Paul Bissonnette & Rest Of NHL Studio Team
TNT opened its 2023-24 NHL coverage on Wednesday with an Eastern Conference matchup between the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators, followed by a Western Conference tilt with the Los Angeles Kings hosting the Colorado Avalanche.