ESPN National Hockey Night ESPN National Hockey Night was ESPN ' s weekly television broadcasts of National Hockey League regular season games and coverage of playoff games , broadcast from 1992 to 2004 . ESPN had been slated to broadcast games for the 2004 – 05 NHL season , but the season ' s cancellation combined with the NHL reaching an agreement with OLN ( now Versus ) to broadcast games for the 2005 – 06 NHL season effectively ended " National Hockey Night " after the 2003 – 04 NHL season . Coverage overview . 1979 – 1982 and 1985 – 1988 . ESPN initially covered the NHL during the 1979 – 80 , 1980 – 81 and 1981 – 82 seasons by making deals with individual teams . This included eleven Hartford Whalers home broadcasts in 1980 – 81 and 25 the following year . During this time , USA also broadcast National Hockey League games . In order to prevent overexposure , the NHL decided to grant only one network exclusive rights . In April 1982 , USA outbid ESPN for the NHL ' s American national television cable package ( $ 8 million for two years ) . In 1984 , the NHL asked ESPN for a bid , but then gave USA the right to match it , which it did . After the 1984 - 85 season , the NHL Board of Governors chose to have USA and ESPN submit sealed bids . ESPN won by bidding nearly $ 25 million for three years , about twice as much as USA had been paying . The contract called for aired approximately 33 weekly ( Sundays at 7 : 30 p . m . Eastern Time ) , nationally televised ( subject to blackout ) regular season games a year ( as well as the All - Star Game and entire Stanley Cup Finals ) . The network chose Dan Kelly and Sam Rosen to be the network ' s first play - by - play announcers , John Davidson and Mickey Redmond were selected to be the color commentators ; Tom Mees was chosen to serve as studio host , while Jim Kelly was chosen to served as the reporter . ESPN designated Sundays as " Sunday Night Hockey " , but also aired select midweek telecasts . ESPN aired its first game , an opening - night matchup between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers , on October 10 , 1985 . ESPN would announce the broadcast teams during 1986 - 87 and 1987 - 88 seasons . Mike Emrick and Bill Clement served as the main broadcast team for the network ' s national game broadcasts , while regionally distributed games were handled by a variety of announcers . . ESPN would ultimately go on another hiatus ( lasting through the end of the 1991 – 92 season ) from the NHL following the 1987 – 88 season , when SportsChannel America outbid them . 1992 – 2004 . From its debut in 1992 until the 2001 – 02 NHL season , weekly regular season games were broadcast on Sundays ( between NFL and baseball seasons ) , Wednesdays , and Fridays , and were titled Sunday / Wednesday / Friday Night Hockey . Prior to the 1999 , these telecasts were non - exclusive , meaning they were blacked out in the regions of the competing teams , and an alternate game was shown in these affected areas . Beginning in 1999 – 2000 season , ESPN was permitted two exclusive telecasts per team per season . When ESPN started broadcasting NBA games on Wednesday and Friday nights in 2002 , the weekly hockey broadcasts were moved to Thursday and the broadcasts renamed to Thursday Night Hockey . Beginning in 1993 – 94 , up to 5 games per week were also shown on ESPN2 known as " " Fire on Ice " . " During the Stanley Cup playoffs , ESPN and ESPN2 provided almost nightly coverage , often carrying games on both channels simultaneously . Games in the first 2 rounds were non - exclusive , while telecasts in the Conference Finals and Finals were exclusive ( except in 1993 and 1994 ) . 1994 - 95 OLN / Versus replaces ESPN . Before the 2004 – 05 lockout , the NHL had reached two separate deals with NBC and ESPN . ESPN offered NHL $ 60 million for about 40 games ( 15 of 40 games would be during the regular season ) , all on ESPN2 , with presumably , only some midweek playoff games , the first 2 games of the Stanley Cup Final and the All - Star Game airing on ESPN . The NBC deal stipulated that the network would pay the league no rights fees - an unheard of practice to that point . NBC ' s deal included six regular season windows , 7 postseason broadcasts and Games 3 – 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals in prime - time . ESPN had a 2 year deal that they opted out of after the lockout , leaving NHL without a cable partner . In August 2005 , Comcast ( who owns the Philadelphia Flyers ) paid $ 70 million a year for three years to put games ( 54 or more NHL games each season under the agreement , generally on Monday and Tuesday nights ) on the OLN network , now known as Versus . Due to the abbreviated off - season , the 2005 – 06 schedule did not offer OLN exclusivity , which they received in 2006 – 07 . Versus will also cover the playoffs and will exclusively air Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals , the consequence was that except for 2006 - 2008 when NBC televise Games 3 - 7 . Perhaps , Games 1 , 2 , and 5 - 7 will always televise on NBC , and Games 3 - 4 televise on Versus and NBCSN .