Incredible News for Gary Bettman and the NHL Confirmed
Today, the NHL revealed some shockingly good news regarding the Four Nations Faceoff, taking some of the heat off of Gary Bettman.
Last night, we saw one of the most entertaining international hockey games in the past decade as Team USA took down Team Canada in a thriller.
Team Canada was without Star defenseman Cale Makar, who was battling illness, but team captain Sidney Crosby was in the lineup despite a recent injury scare.
This made for an exciting contest as Crosby, McDavid, and MacKinnon squared off against Matthews, Eichel, and Hughes.
In the end it was the Americans who came out with a 3-1 victory, pushing the Canadians to the brink of elimination.
While fans across Canada will be disappointed in the result, Gary Bettman certainly won't lose any sleep over it.
This is because the game proved to be one of the biggest successes in NHL history under Bettman when it comes to television ratings.
According to ESPN, the game averaged nearly 4.5 million viewers and peaked over 5 million.
It was the most viewed non-Stanley Cup final game since 2019, and tripled the average rating for nationally televised NHL games over the past year.
Bettman and the NHL have been criticized for dropping ratings this season, so this will give him and the league office a bit of ammunition to fire back with on that front.
Regardless, this is good for the league and good for the spot of hockey. Hopefully Thursday's tournament finale will draw even bigger crowds, exceeding expectations exponentially!
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tom Wilson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Alexander Ovechkin | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Brendan Gallagher | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Victor Hedman | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dylan Strome | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Guentzel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Carcone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Christian Dvorak | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zemgus Girgensons | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nick Paul | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brayden Point | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cam Atkinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Carlson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Desimone | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 56 | 39 | 14 | 3 | 81 | |
Capitals | 55 | 36 | 11 | 8 | 80 | |
Oilers | 55 | 34 | 17 | 4 | 72 | |
Stars | 55 | 35 | 18 | 2 | 72 | |
Golden Knights | 56 | 33 | 17 | 6 | 72 | |
Panthers | 57 | 34 | 20 | 3 | 71 | |
Hurricanes | 56 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 70 | |
Wild | 56 | 33 | 19 | 4 | 70 | |
Maple Leafs | 55 | 33 | 20 | 2 | 68 | |
Avalanche | 57 | 33 | 22 | 2 | 68 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||