NEW YORK -- Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals is the most-watched NHL game in 36 years.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' championship-clinching 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on NBC on Friday night averaged 8 million viewers. The network said Monday that's the most since Game 6 of the 1973 Stanley Cup finals between Montreal and Chicago.

Game 7 earned a 4.3 rating and 8 share. It was the highest rating for a series-ending game since Game 7 of the 2003 Anaheim-New Jersey series.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program, while the share is the percentage of all TVs in use at the time.



Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press