NUMBERS IN CANADA: Leafs remain biggest Stanley Cup draw

The Toronto Maple Leafs bandwagon welcomes an overnight, estimated 2,681,000 fans Monday night on CBC as the Buds beat the Bruins 3-2 in Toronto.

The Leafs have been by far the biggest draw in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, with an estimated 2,104,000 taking in their Game 2 loss Saturday on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Remember: Rogers Media is the big winner on those CBC Stanley Cup telecasts. Half way through that 12-year, $5.2 billion NHL rights deal, Rogers still reaps all the ad revenue. CBC gets plenty of promotional exposure in front of two million-plus national viewers.

Canada’s other teams in the Stanley Cup hunt also outdraw games between American teams. The Winnipeg Jets drew an overnight, estimated 1,022,000 viewers last Friday for their game against the St. Louis Blues, seen nationally on Sportsnet. On Sunday, The Jets drew 760,000 overnight viewers vs. The Blues on Sportsnet, and 576,000 on CBC.

Non-Canadian team NHL games that same Sunday: Tampa Bay vs. Columbus 434,000 on Sportsnet 360; San Jose vs. Vegas 406,000 as the late game on Sportsnet national.

Not everyone was watching sports last Sunday. Big Brother Canada still managed to draw an estimated 886,000 that same night. On specialty, The Curse of Oak Island did 558,000 on History. Island of Bryan was a hit on HGTV with 541,000 viewers. Buddy vs. Duff drew 341,000 on Food Network. CTV Two scored 365,000 with American Idol. World of Dance waltzed off with 670,000 on CTV, with the season finale of God Friended Me doing 619,000.

There was some competition for the sports viewer Sunday. Tiger Woods fifth Masters win at Augusta drew 700,000 early Sunday afternoon on CTV. A further 450,000 watched Tiger win the coveted green jacket on TSN. An estimated 10 million American viewers watched CBS’ coverage of The Masters in the U.S.

Monday night, an estimated 886,000 overnight viewers watched the Calgary Flames battle the Colorado Avalanche. Again, games between U.S. teams drew far fewer viewers in Canada. Washington-Carolina netted 199,000 overnight viewers on Sportsnet, with Nashville-Dallas even further behind Monday with 176,000 viewers. Both those games drew less than WWE Raw the same night on Sportsnet 360 (357,000). On Sportsnet One, the Jays battled 259,000 in a major league tilt against The Twins.

In non-sports viewing, Hudson & Rex fetched its biggest audience yet on Citytv’s, at 320,000 estimated overnight viewers. Global’s big show was an episode of the first responder drama 9-1-1 with 1,250,000 viewers. CTV did 1,054,000 with The Resident and 637,000 with Masterchef Canada.

Saturday night, in the late game, Calgary/Colorado scored 659,000 viewers on CBC, with the same match up showing 659,000 on Sportsnet. U.S. teams NHL coverage: Dallas/Nasville drew 480,000 and Carolina/Washington 309,000 on Sportsnet.

The Toronto Raptors first round NBA playoff game against Orlando Magic Saturday scored 788,000 on Sportsnet One.