The first game of the series at Dodger Stadium featured performances byKiss andFive for Fighting before the game and between the periods, and the opening ceremonies includedVin Scully andWayne Gretzky.[4]
The Anaheim Ducks shut-out the Los Angeles Kings in the inaugural Stadium Series game, 3–0, withJonas Hiller making 36 saves.
The second and third Stadium Series games were played atYankee Stadium, when the Rangers played the Devils and the Islanders on January 26 and 29, 2014, respectively.[5] The Rangers were considered the away team for both games; their home arena,Madison Square Garden, receives tax-exempt status, but only if the Rangers do not "cease playing" home games at MSG, generally interpreted as playing any "home" game outside of MSG.[6]
The second game of the 2014 NHL Stadium Series took place on January 26, 2014, and was part one of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium in New York City, featuring theNew Jersey Devils and theNew York Rangers. This was the NHL's first outdoor game inNew York City. The Devils were the designated home team for this game.
The game was originally supposed to start at 12:30 PM, but it was delayed for over an hour due to sun glare and it started at 1:38 PM.
TheNew York Rangers won 7–3 behindHenrik Lundqvist's 19 saves. After being down 3–2 in the first period, the Rangers stormed back and romped over the Devils by scoring four unanswered goals in the second period and adding another goal byDerek Stepan on a penalty shot in the third period.Mats Zuccarello netted two goals for the Rangers. Also scoring for the Rangers includedRick Nash,Marc Staal andCarl Hagelin.Patrik Elias scored two goals for the Devils andTravis Zajac scored one goal.
The third game of the 2014 NHL Stadium Series took place on January 29, 2014, and was the second part of a doubleheader atYankee Stadium inNew York City, featuring theNew York Islanders and theNew York Rangers, who played their second straight game outdoors. The Islanders were the designated home team for this game.
The Rangers won the game 2–1 after overcoming a 1–0 deficit in the second period.Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves in the game, earning the victory for the Rangers.Benoit Pouliot andDaniel Carcillo scored for the Rangers, whileBrock Nelson scored the Islanders' lone goal.
Each team wore specially designed uniforms for the event, except for the Devils, who wore throwback uniforms in the team's original red and green color scheme. The Islanders unveiled their Stadium Series jersey on November 27, 2013.[7] The Ducks and Kings jointly unveiled their Stadium Series jerseys on December 3.[8] The Penguins unveiled their Stadium Series jersey on December 13.[9] The Blackhawks and Rangers unveiled their Stadium Series jerseys on December 20.[10][11] Penguins goalieMarc-André Fleury wore aPittsburgh Steelers inspired goalie mask for the Penguins-Blackhawks game.[12]
The inaugural Stadium Series was the basis for a seven-part documentary calledNHL Revealed: A Season Like No Other, premiering January 22, 2014, on theNBC Sports Network, and debuting in Canada the next day onCBC. The series was meant to differ from the pre-existingHBO 24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic with an added focus on star players' preparations for the2014 Olympic Tournament in Sochi, Russia, of which NBCSN and CBC were major broadcasters.
Game 1 produced a 0.35 national rating and 622,000 viewers on the NBC Sports Network. While unimpressive, the numbers were considerably higher than average for NBCSN's ratings-challenged West Coast games. In Los Angeles, the game drew a 2.38 local rating, making NBCSN the highest rated cable channel (and second-highest rated overall) in the area during the broadcast. It was the network's best performance for an NHL regular season game in the market.
Game 2 produced a 1.3 national rating and 2.091 million viewers for NBC, good enough to beat all non-regionalized indoor regular season broadcasts since the NHL's return to NBC in 2005, but not quite coming close to the viewership attracted by Winter Classic-branded outdoor games. The game drew a 5.1 local rating in New York, tying Game 1 of the2012 Stanley Cup Finals as the best performance in the market for the current incarnation of theNHL on NBC. The mark stood until the Rangers' strongStanley Cup playoff run a few months later.
Game 3 produced a 0.41 national rating and 682,000 viewers on NBCSN, rather ordinary numbers for theWednesday Night Rivalry franchise. In New York, it drew a 3.58 local rating, the best performance in the market for an NHL regular season game on NBCSN.
Game 4, played in prime time on NBC, produced a 2.1 national rating, the highest rating for a regular season game outside the Winter Classic since NBC took over the broadcast contract.[13]
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