Dan Caesar
Reporter
The Blues missed the NHL playoffs the last two seasons. But they are back now, albeit with a caveat that some of their fans did not miss — a late-starting weeknight game despite it being played in the Central Time Zone.
The Blues are facing the Winnipeg Jets in a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series that begins Saturday in Manitoba, a game set to face off shortly after 5 p.m. But Game 3, the Blues' first home contest, is set to begin at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. And the NHL's track record says that it will be closer to 8:45 (or later) before the puck actually drops.
The league and its television partners utilize that later starting time (Blues home night games usually begin about 7:10) in order to show an East Coast game before an 8:30+ Central contest airs on the same network. (That will be happen Thursday, when ESPN2 has Maple Leafs-Senators before Jets-Blues.)
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That also was the case the last time the Blues were in the playoffs, when NBC stations had the national telecasts that now are shared by Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery outlets. Sam Flood, executive producer of the NBC Sports, previously has explained the scheduling situation that still exists.
“The Central time zone is a unique spot,†he said. “To get a doubleheader on, to get ... the most possible hockey (on TV) for the most possible people is how this works. Remember, you don’t kick off on ‘Sunday Night Football’ or ‘Monday Night Football’ or ‘Thursday Night Football' until after 8 p.m. Eastern time. It’s fairly common in sports. The NBA Finals games don’t start until after 9 o’clock (in the East). It’s not uncommon for this to happen. More importantly, it’s trying to get the most exposure to the most people of great games.â€
There will be multiple broadcast choices offered to Blues fans for the series. National telecasts and streaming options will be available in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ market as well as the local productions on FanDuel Sports Network, with John Kelly (play-by-play) and Jamie Rivers (analysis) on the FDSN calls. That's unlike the case in the regular season, in which there are national exclusive games. FanDuel plans to put all games in the series on its main channel, with Cardinals contests that overlap being moved to its Extra outlet. FanDuel also is offering single-game purchases, for $6.99 through its website, of its Blues productions that also will be available on its app.
TNT and truTV have the national telecast of Saturday's opener, with John Forslund (play-by-play), Jennifer Botterill (analysis) and Meaghan Mikkelson (reporter) drawing the broadcast assignment for the game that version of the production that also will be streamed on Max.
ESPN2 has the national telecasts of Games 2 and 3, with John Buccigross (play-by-play) and Kevin Weekes (commentary) calling the first of those and Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) working with Cassie Campbell-Pascall (analysis) on the second. ESPN2 has Game 3 and Game 4 will be on TBS and truTV.
On radio, WXOS 101.1 FM — the flagship station of the team’s network — has all the games with Chris Kerber (play by play) and Joey Vitale (analysis) set to call the series. A one-hour pregame show proceeds the game broadcasts.
