NHL TV ratings 2013: TSN hits four-year high, local ratings continue to roll

It’s a Friday, so nothing too heavy here today. Let’s do another notes column with some more ratings from earlier in the week.

* TSN became the latest network to cash in on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The cable home of hockey in Canada drew 1.4 million viewers for its broadcast of the Leafs’ victory over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the best regular-season number for TSN since 2009. The Leafs have been as big a draw as ever to start the truncated season, scoring 3.3 million viewers for their debut on CBC, 1.1 million on regional television (Sportsnet) against the Sabres on Monday, and now nearly 1.5 million for a Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

* MSG drew great numbers for the NHL’s return to the New York area. The Rangers-Bruins game scored a 2.88 rating on MSG last Saturday, the best numbers for a Rangers regular-season game since April 20, 1995... against the Hartford Whalers. It was the Rangers’ second-highest rated season opener ever behind 1995, also a shortened season and one that took place after they’d won the Stanley Cup. In addition, the Islanders-Devils game on MSG Plus (which carried the Isles version of the telecast) drew a 1.00 rating, the second-best rating for an Isles game since 1991, when MSG started tracking ratings. The only game to ever score higher was a game against the Rangers in 2002.

* CSN Chicago scored great numbers for its telecast of the Blackhawks’ home opener -- record numbers, in fact. The 5.4 rating for the Hawks victory over the Blues was a regular season record for CSN. Chicago’s hockey club scored the highest ratings on all of television in the market on Tuesday night.

* Finally, let’s talk about ROOT Sports Pittsburgh and the continuing saga of the Penguins drawing insane ratings. Saturday’s 19.4 for an NBC game and Sunday’s 12.6 for a game against the NFL’s conference championships were great in their own right. ROOT’s ratings actually went back up for the Pens’ next game, the aforementioned loss to the Leafs. The network hit an astounding 15.1 rating for the game. If Pittsburgh goes beyond the first round in this year’s post-season, look out for some absurd, NFL-type figures.