NBC Sports Group To Air 105 NHL Regular-Season Games In 2015-16

NBC Sports Group will deliver coverage of 105 NHL regular-season games during the 2015-16 season, featuring games on NBC and NBCSN.

Coming off the second-most watched Stanley Cup Final on record, and the third-most watched NHL postseason in the last 18 years, NBC Sports Group will deliver coverage of 105 NHL regular-season games during the 2015-16 season, featuring 12 games on NBC and 93 games on NBCSN.

The 105 regular-season games are the most ever scheduled across NBC Sports Group heading into a season. All games will be streamed live via NBC Sports Live Extra.

Schedule highlights include:

• Opening Night doubleheaders on Oct. 7 on NBCSN, beginning with a Wednesday Night Rivalry Original Six matchup between the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers at 8 p.m. ET, as the Blackhawks raise their 2015 Stanley Cup Championship banner to the United Center rafters. Opening Night coverage continues with a Wednesday Nightcap at 10:30 p.m. ET, when the Los Angeles Kings host the rival San Jose Sharks.

• NBC will present the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins from Gillette Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, on Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. ET.

• NBC will air exclusive coverage of the 2016 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, featuring the Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild on Sunday, Feb. 21 from TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota, and the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche at Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies, on Saturday, Feb. 27 in primetime.

• NBCSN will present coverage of the NHL All-Star Game from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., home of the Nashville Predators. NHL All-Star will take place Friday, Jan. 29 through Sunday, Jan. 31, and will include the NHL Fantasy Draft, NHL All-Star Skills Competition™ and the NHL All-Star Game.

• NBC airs the Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown with a doubleheader on Black Friday, beginning at 1 p.m. ET when the Boston Bruins host the Rangers. Thanksgiving Showdown shifts to the west coast at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN with a rematch of the Western Conference Final, as the Anaheim Ducks host the Blackhawks.

• NBC and NBCSN will combine to showcase a tripleheader on Hockey Day In America on Sunday, February 21. The action starts on NBC at 12:30 p.m. ET, when the Buffalo Sabres host the Pittsburgh Penguins, followed by the NHL Stadium Series at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with the Wild and Blackhawks. Hockey Day In America shifts to NBCSN with an Original Six matchup to close out the tripleheader, as the Rangers host the Detroit Red Wings.

• The 2015-16 regular season on NBCSN will feature 24 Wednesday Night Rivalry telecasts, plus six Wednesday Nightcaps that will showcase Western Conference teams, including the Kings, Sharks and Avalanche.

• NBCSN will air 12 Sunday Night Hockey matchups on NBCSN, beginning on January 10. Matchups include Penguins-Capitals, Lightning-Bruins, Blues-Wild, and Maple Leafs-Red Wings, in which first-year Toronto head coach Mike Babcock returns to Detroit to face the team he led for the past decade.

• The Blackhawks, Rangers, Penguins, Red Wings, Wild, Avalanche and Blues will each make 12 appearances across NBC and NBCSN, followed by four teams that will appear 11 times. The Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning will make eight appearances across NBC and NBCSN.

• NBC and NBCSN will air rematches of the 2015 Eastern and Western Conference Finals. NBC will present Blackhawks-Ducks as part of the Thanksgiving Showdown doubleheader on Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. ET. NBCSN will present Rangers-Lightning on Wednesday, Nov. 30, and will also provide coverage of their matchup in New York on April 5, in what will be Tampa Bay’s first visit to Madison Square Garden since Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.

• Rangers-Penguins, Blackhawks-Wild, Capitals-Flyers, Penguins-Capitals and Kings-Sharks are the most featured regular-season matchups, each appearing three times across NBC and NBCSN.

• NBCSN will provide coverage of the first NHL matchup on U.S. soil between 2015 top NHL draft picks Connor McDavid (No. 1, Edmonton) and Jack Eichel (No. 2, Buffalo), when the Buffalo Sabres host the Edmonton Oilers on March 1.

• 57 of NBC and NBCSN’s 105 telecasts feature at least one Western Conference team, and every U.S. team will appear on NBC or NBCSN in the regular season.

• Bonus games may be added to the schedule once the season is underway.

NHL on NBCSN

NBCSN will televise 93 NHL regular-season games this season, including the Opening Night doubleheader, 24 Wednesday Night Rivalry games, 6 Wednesday Nightcaps, 12 Sunday Night Hockey contests, and NHL All-Star coverage.

NBCSN coverage begins on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. ET with NHL Live, NBCSN’s live pre- and post-game show, leading into coverage of Rangers-Blackhawks Wednesday Night Rivalry game from United Center in Chicago, Ill., at 8 p.m. ET. Coverage shifts to Los Angeles immediately following Rangers-Blackhawks for the Wednesday Nightcap, featuring the Sharks and Kings.

NHL ON NBC

NHL on NBC coverage begins on Friday, November 27 at 1 p.m. ET, with the Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown featuring the New York Rangers at Boston Bruins, marking the first of 12 games that will air on NBC during the regular season. Beginning on January 24, and continuing through the end of the regular season, NBC will present the NHL Game of the Week, generally occurring on Sunday afternoons.

BRIDGESTONE NHL WINTER CLASSIC AND COORS LIGHT NHL STADIUM SERIES

The annual NHL Winter Classic will take place on January 1, 2016, at Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots, in Foxborough, Mass., and will feature the Montreal Canadiens visiting the Boston Bruins. The 2016 NHL Winter Classic will be broadcast on NBC at 1 p.m. ET. Created in 2008, the NHL Winter Classic has produced the five most-watched NHL regular-season games in the past 39 years.

In addition, NBC will present exclusive coverage of the NHL Stadium Series, featuring a pair of games this season. The first Stadium Series game will take place on Sunday, Feb. 21 as part of NBC Sports Group’s Hockey Day In America tripleheader, when the Chicago Blackhawks face the Minnesota Wild at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The second Stadium Series game will be played at Coors Field, home of MLB’s Colorado Rockies, in Denver, Colo., on Saturday, Feb. 27, featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIVALRY

NBCSN’s exclusive Wednesday Night Rivalry coverage will return for a third season and will feature some of the biggest rivalries in the NHL, including Flyers-Bruins, Blues-Blackhawks, Rangers-Islanders and Penguins-Capitals. The network will air exclusive coverage on Wednesday nights for 24 weeks, with games usually starting at 8 p.m. ET. WNR begins Wednesday, October 7 with Opening Night coverage between the Rangers and Blackhawks.

Last year’s Wednesday Night Rivalry coverage averaged 565,000 viewers, including NBCSN’s opening night presentation of Bruins-Flyers, which averaged 956,000 viewers to mark the most-watched cable season opener on record. Seven of last year’s 10 most-watched NHL regular-season games on NBCSN were Wednesday Night Rivalry matchups.

NBCSN 2015-16 NHL Wednesday Night Rivalry schedule (subject to change):

WEDNESDAY NIGHTCAP

In addition, NBCSN will present six games on Wednesday nights that will immediately follow Wednesday Night Rivalry matchups. These nightcaps will showcase one or two Western Conference teams. The first of these games will take place on Opening Night, when San Jose visits Los Angeles following Rangers-Blackhawks Wednesday Night Rivalry coverage. Following are the six Wednesday Nightcap games:

SUNDAY NIGHT HOCKEY ON NBCSN

Beginning on January 10, NBCSN will present 12 Sunday Night Hockey matchups. These contests include Red Wings-Rangers, Lightning-Bruins, Blues-Wild and Capitals-Penguins. The Rangers and Wild lead the league with three Sunday Night Hockey appearances apiece. Following is NBCSN’s Sunday Night Hockey schedule:

NHL ALL-STAR– JAN. 29-31 – BRIDGESTONE ARENA, NASHVILLE, TENN.

NBCSN will present extensive coverage of the 2016 NHL All-Star from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., home of the Nashville Predators. NHL All-Star will take place January 29-31, 2016, and will include the NHL Fantasy Draft on Friday, January 29, NHL All-Star Skills Competition™ on Saturday, January 30, and the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, January 31.

NBC SPORTS GROUP’S STATE-OF-THE ART STUDIOS

NHL studio programming throughout much of the 2015-16 season will originate from NBC Sports Group’s state-of-the-art International Broadcast Center, located in Stamford, Conn.

NHL Live, NBCSN’s live pre- and post-game show with highlights and analysis of NHL matchups, will air before and after most games. A 60-minute edition of NHL Live will air prior to most games, while a 30-minute post-game show, NHL Overtime, will air immediately following most games.

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA COVERAGE

NBC Sports Live Extra – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs – will stream comprehensive coverage of the NHL regular season via "TV Everywhere," giving consumers additional value to for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store and Apple TV.

NBC Sports Group 2015-16 NHL regular-season schedule (subject to change):