• by Wayne Friedman , June 3, 2010

TV executives can sometimes forget what one TV series - – actually one episode of on TV series – can do for a cable or broadcast network.

What was Wednesday night's top-rated cable network? USA, TNT, Fox News or ESPN, you say? No, not the usual suspects. It was Versus, the Comcast-owned sports cable channel, which aired game three of the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals.

Versus posted 3.6 million viewers. Not only bettering all other cable networks in that metric, but also getting the best numbers among 18-49, 18-34, 25-54, and key male demographics.

This was the best hockey final game results in eight year, and better than game 4 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final which took in 3.448 million viewers on Versus.

Not to be outdone, NBC, which aired the first two games of the series, said it posted its best viewership in 11 years with the event.