The NHL Playoffs for 2024 have reached the Finals stage and the Florida Panthers will be taking on the Edmonton Oilers to see who will win the Stanley Cup this year. While American viewers have several basic options for tuning in, it’s not as easy to watch the NHL in the UK compared to some US sports. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know about watching live streams on TV and online.
The Panthers are one of 11 teams to never win the Stanley Cup, so this would be a historic win for the team. This is their third time reaching the finals – last year they were beaten by the Vegas Golden Knights. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers have won the titles five times, but the last time was in 1990. Plus, a Canadian team hasn’t lifted the trophy since 1993, so they also have plenty of drive to win.
When do the NHL Stanley Cup Finals start?
You’ve not got long to wait, as the first game in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals kicks off onSaturday 8 June 2024. The full schedule is further down this article.
How to watch NHL Finals in the US
If you’re watching via traditional cable TV, you can catch all the Stanley Cup games on ABC.
Alternatively, you can stream the games through an ESPN+ subscription. This costs $10.99 per month. You can also get a premium subscription to ABC via Fubo, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV, but these are quite expensive.
How to watch NHL Finals in the UK
Unfortunately, not even Sky Sports, let alone free-to-air channels like BBC or Channel 5, currently shows the NHL in the UK. That makes it a lot harder to watch compared to other American sports like NBA or NFL.
Premier Sports
However, Premier Sports is a paid-for channel you can add to your Sky and Virgin Media package. It costs £9.99 per month (pm) on Sky for four channels and oddly £12.99pm on Virgin for the same bundle.
It’s also available as a standalone subscription, but only costs £9.99 per month if you sign up for 12 months – more flexible options rack up the cost. Now, you can even get it via Amazon Prime Video but it’s the most expensive option at £14.99pm.
See below for what games are on Premier Sports.
NHL.tv
You might be best off with the official NHL streaming service. It doesn’t have a UK site but you can still use it by paying via credit card or PayPal. You’ll have to pay in US dollars and it’s only $14.99 for the Stanley Cup finals.
NHL.tv is available on a wide range of devices including phones, tablet, desktop, consoles and media streamers like Amazon Fire TV and Roku – although availability in the UK might vary so check the app store before you sign up.
The streaming services lets you watch games live as well as catch highlights and plenty more content. Just note that blackouts do apply so if a game is being shown on Premier Sports, for example, it won’t be available on NHL.tv.
To get around this, you could try using a VPN (virtual private network) to make your device browse from the US instead of the UK. We recommend NordVPN or Surfshark but you can also look at our list of the best VPNs for other options.
However, you may face a US blackout if the game you want to watch is being shown on a local US TV channel, so play around with different servers.
What NHL games are on Premier Sports?
Here are the confirmed games for the Stanley Cup Finals. They are all on the Premier Sports 1 channel.
8 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (9 June) – Game 1 – Oilers at Panthers
10 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (11 June) – Game 2 – Oilers at Panthers
13 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (14 June) –Game 3 – Panthers at Oilers
15 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (16 June) – Game 4 – Panthers at Oilers
18 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (19 June) – Game 5 – Oilers at Panthers (if necessary)
21 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (22 June) – Game 6 – Panthers at Oilers (if necessary)
24 June 2024 – 8pm ET/ 5pm PT / 1am BST (25 June) – Game 7 – Oilers at Panthers (if necessary)
