NHL TV and radio schedules for 2021-22 season

Ken McMillan
Times Herald-Record

The National Hockey League heads into the upcoming playoffs with national contracts returning to ESPN and for the first time for Turner Sports on TNT.

At the time of its creation, ESPN revolutionized NHL coverage in the United States, presenting the league from 1979-82, again from 1985-88 and a third stint from 1992-2004. The national cable deal eventually went to Outdoor Life Network, which became Versus, which became NBC Sports Network. ESPN/Disney reacquired the rights in March 2021.

National Hockey League (AP)

If you are a hockey fan in New York and are willing to spend a few subscription dollars, the entire regular season of 1,312 games is available via ESPN+. New Yorkers with basic cable still receive more NHL games than any other national city with the Rangers, Islanders and Devils airing on the MSG and MSG Plus networks.

New York Rangers

Madison Square Garden Networks will present pre-game and post-game coverage of the NHL's Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Carolina Hurricanes.

John Giannone, Steve Valiquette and retired Rangers all-star goalie Henrik Lundqvist will handle the studio work.

Rangers radio broadcasts will air on WEPN 98.7-FM (ESPN Radio New York). Kenny Albert is the play-by-play voice and Dave Maloney is slated as analyst. Don La Greca may also serve as Albert’s backup, as well as host the broadcasts.

All games on MSG Network unless indicated

May

Mon. 30 - at Hurricanes, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

ESPN

The Stanley Cup finals will air on ESPN and ABC in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028 (TNT has 2023, 2025, 2027). ESPN and TNT will split the first two rounds of the playoffs, and each network will be assigned one conference final.

All ESPN and ESPN2 games will be available on the ESPN app.

June

Tues. 7 - Rangers at Lightning, game 4, 8 p.m.; Thur. 9 - Lightning at Rangers, game 5, 8 p.m.; Sat. 11 - Rangers at Lightning, game 6 (if nec.), 8 p.m.; Tues. 14 - Lightning at Rangers, game 7 (if nec.), 8 p.m.

ABC Sports (WABC-7 in New York), also on ESPN+

ABC will air the Stanley Cup finals

ESPN+

Every out-of-market (in New York, no Rangers, Islanders and Devils) game will be streamed via ESPN+ and can be viewed on demand. Fans can choose between the “home” or “away” broadcast feed. Rangers, Islanders and Devils games will be available on ESPN+ after 24 hours.

TNT

Turner Sports will broadcast the Western Conference final series.

Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk will be the lead TNT announce team. Keith Jones will provide ice-level analysis. TNT will use Jackie Redmond, Jennifer Botterill and Tarik El-Bashir as contributors.

Albert is the Rangers’ lead radio analyst. Olczyk, a member of the 1994 Rangers Cup champions, is the TV analyst for the Blackhawks.

June

Mon. 6 - Avalanche at Oilers, game 4, 8 p.m.; Wed. 8 - Oilers at Avalanche, game 5 (if nec.), time TBD; Fri. 10 - Avalanche at Oilers, game 6 (if nec.), time TBD; Sun. 12 - Oilers at Avalanche, game 7 (if nec.), time TBD

NHL Network

The network will provide extensive on-site  and studio coverage during the remainder of the playoffs.

NHL.com

The NHL app and website NHL.com provides free radio telecasts of every game, with both home and away feeds.

SiriusXM radio

NHL Network Radio (Ch. 91) is airing all games of the conference finals and Stanley Cup Finals. Sports USA network is producing the broadcasts. The subscription service provides home-team radio broadcasts across a handful of channels (219 through 223) in the sports tier service. Each team has its own online streaming channel (on SiriusXM.com) for its radio broadcasts. NHL Network Radio Ch. 91 also presents a number of select games.

TuneIn

The app provides a subscription-based service for radio telecasts of every game.

kmcmillan@th-record.com

Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR