NEW YORK, April 26 (DPI) — Better technology — larger screens and high-definition imagery — has helped solve an old problem for the National Hockey League: Getting fans to watch its games on a television screen.

Now the NHL, after an exciting first round of  the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is enjoying is highest television ratings ever. NBC Sports reports that the recent series final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers was the most-watched non-Stanley Cup Finals game since 2002.

A Nielsen rating of 2.3 — about 2.7 million U.S. households — was the most watched since NBC retained the rights to NHL games in 2006.

Most commentators – columnists at the NY Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, for instance — are focusing on the rise in on-ice fighting as a draw for television viewers.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hockey/11963096-419/nhl-playoff-fights-draw-huge-tv-ratings.html

But league officials say there is much more to the higher ratings.  One key — and often unmentioned — development is the general improvement in television quality in recent years, making the elusive puck easier to see onscreen.

Both larger screens and the advent of higher-resolution screens have made viewing hockey on television a viable sports alternative, sports entertainment experts say.