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An average of 7.66 million U.S. viewers tuned into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers on Monday night, according to data provided by Nielsen.

It marked the biggest audience for an NHL game since the Blues downed the Bruins in the most Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final, back in 2019. NBC brought in an average of 8.72 million viewers for that St. Louis-Boston contest.

Florida won 2-1 on Monday to secure the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Panthers held a 3-0 lead in the series before Edmonton, led by star forward Connor McDavid, stormed back to make sure the finals went the distance.

Viewership on Monday peaked at 10.3 million as the Oilers pushed for a tying goal in the last minutes.

Only four NHL Game 7s have drawn a larger televised audience over the past 60 years.

The contest drew the biggest audience ever for an NHL game not involving one of the Original Six franchises (Boston, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs).

An average of 4.2 million viewers watched the series as a whole on ABC, a 58 percent improvement from last year’s finals that featured Florida and the Vegas Golden Knights.

In Canada, an average of 7.55 million viewers watched Game 7 on Sportsnet, CBC-TV, and Citytv. That was the country’s second-largest English-language NHL viewership, trailing only the 8.76 million who watched the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers were trying to bring the Cup back to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.

–Field Level Media