The Colorado Avalanche won the series in six games, and represented the NHL Western Conference in the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals.
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The Penguins were looking to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1992, while the Panthers were playing in their first-ever Conference Finals.
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Detroit had the league's best regular-season record and were hoping to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second consecutive year.
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The Florida Panthers won the series in seven games, and represented the NHL Eastern Conference in the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals.
The Philadelphia Flyers made their seventh appearance, first since 1987.
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Colorado was looking to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second consecutive year and Detroit was hoping to get back to the Finals for the second time in three years.
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The Detroit Red Wings made their 20th appearance in a Final, first since 1995.
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The Red Wings, who had been swept in their previous appearance, this time swept the Flyers to win their eighth Cup title, and first since 1955.
For Game 3 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, NBC got a 1.7 overnight rating, with one point equaling 1% of the United States' 77 million overnight TV households.
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Game 1 produced the best overnight rating in the United States for a Game 1 since 1999.
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The following is an overview of the television ratings for the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Finals in both the United States and Canada.
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The 2.8 overnight rating and 6 share was a 12-percent increase from the first game of the 2009 Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.
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However, it averaged 2.154 million viewers for the seven-game rematch, down 7% from the 2008 final.
While at The Score, Kouleas covered numerous sports and sporting events, including the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Stanley Cup Final, trade deadline, and Entry Draft.
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Heading into the playoffs, the Flyers squeaked past Toronto in seven games and defeated Boston in five games, Game 5 featuring a five-goal outburst by Leach, the Riverton Rifle, to head to a third straight appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Game 4 at Continental Airlines Arena was not a sell out as it took place 48 hours after it hosted the New Jersey Devils third Stanley Cup celebration in 9 years, following their 3-0 win over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
He reported on the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Series, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the U.S. Open Golf Championship, the Triple Crown, and the New York City Marathon.
In the NHL (where he wore uniform number 24 from the 1994–95 NHL season until his retirement), he officiated more than 600 regular season games, 84 Stanley Cup playoff games, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and two Stanley Cup Finals.