NBC Sports' exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final concluded Thursday in historic fashion on NBC, as the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup and snapped a 44-year title drought by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-3, in Game 5 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Six-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mike "Doc" Emrick, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member and analyst Eddie Olczyk, and Emmy Award-winning "Inside-the-Glass" analyst Pierre McGuire had the call from Washington. This marked the 12th consecutive year Emrick, Olczyk and McGuire combined to call the Stanley Cup Final for NBC Sports.
Following the game, Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin told McGuire, "It's just unbelievable. I don't know what to say, it's just unbelievable. I'm the happiest guy. I'm so happy for my teammates, for our fans watching back in Washington, D.C., the guys who have played here, my fans, my family, all of my friends, all of my second family, it's unbelievable.
"At the beginning of the year, I said we're not going to be second. We're going to win the Stanley Cup. That's all that matters. We won. It doesn't matter how we play or what happened before. We just won it."
The series-clinching Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final averaged a total audience delivery (TAD) of 6.714 million viewers on NBC, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app, making it the most-watched Stanley Cup Final Game 5 in 16 years - and up 51 percent vs. last year, according to Fast National Data by the Nielsen Company and Adobe Analytics.
The five-game Stanley Cup Final averaged a TAD of 4.918 million viewers, making it the most-watched in three years and the most-watched final without an "Original Six" team on record.
Despite a playoffs that did not include teams in traditional hockey markets, such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens or New York Rangers, sports fans were drawn to the numerous compelling stories of this year's playoffs - including the historic run by the expansion Golden Knights, and the unrelenting quest of Ovechkin and the Capitals to win their first Stanley Cup. Overall, the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs tied for the second-most watched Stanley Cup Playoffs in 21 years.
