Duck Bandwagon Filling Up as L.A. Ratings Soar

Hockey and the Mighty Ducks may finally be catching on in Los Angeles.

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals Monday night, in which the Ducks defeated the New Jersey Devils in overtime, generated a 7.2 Nielsen rating and a 13 share of the audience for Channel 7.

No market got a higher rating, which peaked at 11.4 between 7:30 and 7:45 p.m., just before the end of regulation.

The 7.2 average is believed to be the highest rating ever for hockey in L.A. Bill Johnson, Channel 7’s director of research, couldn’t find one that was higher, nor could the Kings’ public relations department.

When the Kings faced the Montreal Canadiens in the 1993 Stanley Cup finals, those games were only on cable. Prime Ticket, the forerunner of Fox Sports Net, televised the games in L.A.

For Monday’s Game 4, Detroit had the second highest rating behind L.A.’s 7.2 with a 6.9. New York got a 6.1.

The 7.2 was also nearly double the 3.7 L.A. rating for Game 3 Saturday night, when L.A. had the fifth-best rating. Detroit was No. 1 with a 6.2, followed by New York (5.5), Buffalo (4.4), Philadelphia (4.2) and Denver (4.2).

Nationally, Game 4 got a 2.7 rating, compared to a 2.0 for Game 3. Regular-season Duck telecasts on Channel 9 this season averaged a 0.4 rating.

-- Larry Stewart

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Mike Milbury dismissed yet another New York Islander coach Tuesday, firing Peter Laviolette after playoff trips in each of his two seasons with the team.

Milbury has fired seven coaches, including himself twice, in the 7 1/2 years he has been Islander general manager. Laviolette was replaced with minor league coach Steve Stirling, who coached in the AHL the last two seasons.

“I’m not happy about being here and was looking for any possible way around this,” Milbury said. “While we accomplished some significant things in the last two years, in the end I thought we were backtracking.”

Laviolette and the Islanders were eliminated twice in the first round of the playoffs after not qualifying since 1994. There was a positive feeling a year ago after a tough seven-game loss to Toronto, but those good vibes were gone after a five-game washout against Ottawa in April.

Stirling was The Hockey News’ minor pro coach of the year in 2001-02 after taking Bridgeport to the AHL finals. *

The Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens will play an outdoor game at Commonwealth Stadium in November that could draw more than 55,000 fans.

“The NHL has approved it,” Oiler President Patrick LaForge told the Edmonton Journal, saying he had spoken with Bob Goodenow, head of the Players’ Association. “He’s cool. There’s no hurdle there that hasn’t been handled.”

The Oilers officially made the announcement during a news conference at the Edmonton stadium on Tuesday. The game will be part of the team’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

An afternoon old-timers’ game that will likely feature Wayne Gretzky is also on the schedule.