US beats Canada with record viewership numbers for 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game

By Nestor Quixtan

Modified Feb 22, 2025 03:20 GMT

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Thursday night’s 4 Nations Face-Off final matchup between the US and Canada drew the highest ratings among viewers across North America for an NHL-related event. In particular, US viewers topped Canadians by a substantial margin.

According to data from the NHL’s Department of Public Relations, the 4 Nations Face-Off final registered 16.1 million viewers across North America. For context, Game 7 of last season’s Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, which drew 16.3 million viewers across the continent.

Interestingly enough, the 4 Nations Face-Off final had a majority of viewership in the US as compared to Canada. As the NHL pointed out, 9.3 million fans tuned in from the US while 6.8 million tuned in from Canada.

As sports analyst Joe Pompliano pointed out, the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game between the USA and Canada is the "most-watched NHL game" in over 30 years.

The 4 Nations was a smashing success, prompting the NHL to declare that the US-Canada matchup surpassed every sporting event on ESPN except for NFL-related contests.

The 4 Nations Face-Off was a resounding success, considering it started as somewhat of an experiment by the NHL. The league ran with the 4 Nations as a means of bringing back best-on-best hockey ahead of the 2026 Games in Milano Cortina.

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NHL hoping to ride 4 Nations Face-Off hype for rest of season

In an article by Sportico published on Feb. 21, the 4 Nations championship game has kicked up a new wave of hype surrounding the NHL. As such, the league hopes that the buzz generated by the international tourney will translate into increased viewership for the remainder of this season and the playoffs.

Sportico cited data from Nielsen ratings, stating that Thursday night’s US-Canada showdown was the fourth most-watched NHL game since Nielsen began tracking ratings in 1988 with its current methodology.

The pieces said that the three most-watched NHL games date back to the 1970s. However, those numbers must be taken with a grain of salt as they were calculated based on Nielsen’s previous methodology.

Based on Nielsen’s previous method, the most-watched NHL game was Game 7 of the 1971 Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens. That game reportedly drew 12.4 million viewers. The game was broadcast on CBS at the time.

In the meantime, the NHL hopes that the average viewership will climb following the 4 Nations event. As Sportico noted, the Feb. 8 matchup between the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights registered 1.27 million viewers. As such, the league hopes that those numbers will continue to rise across the board.