After a first round programming schedule that was meant to appease NBC in their weekend games (which, in fact, hurt both NBC and CBC), the NHL fixed their mistakes in their schedule for the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On the first Saturday of the playoffs, the league scheduled Sidney Crosby and the Penguins for the afternoon game on NBC, and rightly so. My issue with it wasn't that CBC lost a Canadian game on Saturday night, but that NBC wanted multiple games in that time slot, meaning the future of the league and hockey in general south of 49 was only seen in some markets in the U.S., not all of them.
If the league wanted to market their young superstar properly, they would have made an agreement with NBC to air the Pens-Sens game across the country at 3 p.m. Instead, some markets miss out on Crosby, and one of the top reasons for non-hockey fans to tune in.
This Saturday, there is but one game in the afternoon (Sharks @ Wings Gm 2), and one in the afternoon on Sunday (Sabres @ Rangers Gm 3). This is the best option for the league and NBC; get one big game with a major market in both games shown coast to coast.
Plus, CBC gets the Senators game on Saturday night, as they would want.
Everybody wins. Especially the fans.
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