Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand is reporting that NBC will be shutting down NBCSN, the home of most national NHL games, by the end of 2021.
The move is being done, according to Ourand, so that NBC can consolidate its offering and “is part of a bigger strategy to grow its Peacock streaming service.”
The NWHL revealed in November that it would squeeze its entire 2021 season into a two-week tournament at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY. Now the women’s hockey league is receiving major backing from an NHL TV broadcast partner for the first time.
NBCSN announced on Tuesday that it will cover the 2021 Isobel Cup Semifinals and Final – three games total — and will air them live on Thursday, February 4 (5:30 PM, 8 PM) and Friday, February 5 (7 PM).
According to an NBCSN release, “The agreement between NBC Sports and the NWHL is a historic chapter for women’s professional hockey in the United States, marking the first-ever women’s professional hockey games to be shown live on a major national cable network in the United States.”
Most notably, the games will be aired on primetime during weekend nights of the NHL’s 2020-21 regular season.
Want to re-watch the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup again?
NBCSN is re-airing the Games One and Five of the Stanley Cup Final beginning at 8 PM tonight. Capitals center Lars Eller, who scored the Cup-winning goal, will join during the Game 5 broadcast.
Alex Ovechkin hasn’t scored in a season-high five-straight games, but NBC remains undaunted.
The media juggernaut will air the Capitals-Canadiens game on national TV again tonight as it hopes to capture Alex Ovechkin’s 700th goal live.
Ovechkin still currently sits at 698 goals and has been stuck there since February 4 – a span of 16 days.
Despite firing 16 shot attempts towards the net, Alex Ovechkin went goalless in the Capitals’ 3-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, Saturday. Ovechkin has not found the back of the net since scoring a natural hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings on February 4 – a season-high four-game scoreless streak.
“Sometimes it just goes in,” Ovechkin said. “Sometimes it hits the post or you miss a wide open net or pretty good chances. You just have to stick with it. Obviously, I would be pissed if I didn’t have any chances, but it’s okay. It’s gonna come.”
Undaunted, NBC Sports has picked up the Washington Capitals-Vegas Golden Knights game and will air it on national TV, Monday night.
The Washington Capitals game tonight will be broadcast nationally again on NBCSN as the sports network covers Alex Ovechkin’s chase for 700 goals.
Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin will be covering the game like normal for NBC Sports Washington, but in a change from other national Capitals games in the past, they will also be doing the call for NBCSN too.
Joe B and Locker are goin’ national, y’all!
NBC Sports announced this morning that NBCSN will be picking up the Capitals-Avalanche game on Thursday. It will mark the second Capitals game NBC Sports has picked up this week.
NBC, of course, is following Alex Ovechkin as the Capitals captain tries to score 700 goals.
Over the weekend, NBC announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets game on national TV tonight will no longer be national. Instead, the Washington Capitals’ matchup against the New York Islanders will be aired live across the United States as NBCSN opts to cover Alex Ovechkin’s chase for 700 goals instead.
The Russian machine sits at 698 goals and recently had three hat tricks in six games. When Ovechkin hits 700, he will become only the eighth player in NHL history to score that many goals.
NBC released its full TV schedule for the 2019-20 season Tuesday morning.
The Washington Capitals will be featured 12 times on national TV this year. The games will be aired on NBC and NBC Sports Network.
The Caps’ season-opener against the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues, will air on NBCSN on October 2. It will be the Blues’ banner-raising night.
In case you missed NBCSN’s pregame coverage of the Caps game, NBCSN anchor Liam McHugh used plus-minus as a way to discredit Alex Ovechkin‘s 51 goals last year. Clearly Mr. McHugh can’t be bothered with knowing that plus-minus is a silly way to measure a player’s effectiveness. He’s probably also a really big Jeff Schultz fan.
Mr. McHugh’s use of plus-minus didn’t go unnoticed by Caps fans on Twitter.
But know this, Mr. McHugh sees you Caps fans. He sees you and he’s bringing the sass.
By Patrick Holden 9 years ago
