Saturday Night is Hockey Night on TSN

First it was the theme song, now it's the coveted Saturday night timeslot. Canadians turning the dial to CBC on Saturday night at 7 o'clock, expecting to get their weekly fix of Hockey Night in Canada, will instead be treated to the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling. The big game, minus Don Cherry, will be on TSN - at least for this week.

It has become almost an annual tradition in recent years that the CBC get short-changed by NHL schedule-makers come playoff time, with the latter preferring to cater to the tastes of the Glow Puck on FOX or Jay Leno on NBC. But this year's Saturday scheduling gaffe has nothing to do with the league and everything to do with the CBC's incompetence.

With the slate highlighted by the Canadiens-Capitals at 7 o'clock, followed by the Canucks-Kings at 10 o'clock, the stars were aligned for a perfect Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader on Saturday night, just like in the regular season. But when CBC passed on the Canadiens-Capitals series, it gave-up the most lucrative timeslot in all of hockey to its broadcast competitor. With the early game heavily outdrawing the late game on any given Saturday night, TSN will have scored a major ratings coup before CBC signs-on at 9:30 for its pre-game show of the second contest.

And don't count on CBC recovering its losses the following week: Unless the Senators-Penguins series goes at least six games, CBC will once again be without a telecast at hockey's flagship hour.

THIS WEEKEND'S GAMES:
Tonight
Senators at Penguins - Game 2, 7 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Flyers at Devils - Game 2, 7:30 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Predators at Blackhawks - Game 1, 8:30 p.m. (TSN2)
Red Wings at Coyotes - Game 2, 10 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Avalanche at Sharks - Game 2, 10:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Saturday
Bruins at Sabres - Game 2, 1 p.m. (CBC)/(NBC)/(RDS)
Canadiens at Capitals - Game 2, 7 p.m. (TSN)/(RDS)
Kings at Canucks - Game 2, 10 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS - joined in progress)
Sunday
Coyotes at Red Wings - Game 3, 3 p.m. (TSN)/(NBC)/(RDS)
Devils at Flyers - Game 3, 6 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Penguins at Senators - Game 3, 6:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)
Predators at Blackhawks - Game 2, 8:30 p.m. (TSN)/(RIS)
Sharks at Avalanche - Game 3, 9:30 p.m. (CBC)/(RDS)