Team Canada players celebrate a win against Team Sweden in overtime during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at Bell Centre. David Kirouac-Imagn Images

Opening game of 4 Nations Face-off was big ratings win for NHL

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Feb 13, 2025 8:16 PM ET

Hockey fans love their international competitions, and they proved that again on Wednesday night.

The NHL announced on Thursday that the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-off between Canada and Sweden drew more than 4.1M viewers across North America. Within the United States, it was the highest rated game that has aired on TNT this season averaging more than one million viewers.

TNT Sports' #4Nations coverage started off with a bang last night!

/ OT thriller surged to more than 1 million avg. viewers on TNT & truTV, a new high on TNT Sports' platforms this season

Most watched non-playoff hockey game on @SportsonMax EVER! pic.twitter.com/T9ZdCVvlL5
— TNT Sports U.S. PR (@TNTSportsUS) February 13, 2025

NHL ratings have dipped this season, and have not matched expectations when the league signed its new TV deal with ESPN and TNT a few years ago.

Even though this is a new tournament and does not have the same appeal as, say, the Olympics or other previous World Cup tournaments, it is still the first best-on-best tournament involving NHL Players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

After nearly 10 years hockey fans have been craving this sort of event. So far, they have tuned in.

The fact Wednesday's game did so well on TNT is a good sign for what might happen during the United States games in the tournament.

The 4 Nations Face-off is taking place over the next week-and-a-half and will include the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden. It is a nice warmup and audition before the NHL returns to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

More must-reads: