Tuesday night’s overtime thriller between the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Playoffs featured plenty of drama and intensity for fans of both sides.
But, you don’t often see the broadcast itself adding to the drama and intensity.
Late in the third period of the 3-3 game with the Rangers on a power play, ESPN’s feed abruptly switched to the night’s other game, a meeting between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
The game was set to start on ESPN after Rangers/Hurricanes concluded but it was moved to ESPNU. That didn’t stop the feed from airing on ESPN for nearly 20 seconds, as Mike Monaco and A.J. Mleczko welcomed viewers to Dallas and started to get into the pregame show before cutting back to the Rangers and Hurricanes.
While the delay was kept short in the grand scheme of things, the 20 seconds had to feel like a lifetime for fans of either team.
Both the NHL and ESPN got very lucky that no goals were scored in the brief interruption, as any goal that late in the game would have almost certainly been the game-winner.
The damage was already done on social media though, with plenty of people buzzing over the feed switch, ESPN’s NHL presentation, and the television industry as a whole.
[Photo Credit: ESPN]
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