We can get something called NHL Centre Ice here where you get a whole bunch of different channels with all the games. I haven't seen anything blacked out on there before, but a bunch of the US stations aren't using HD feeds so it looks like garbage.
Also, American hockey announcers usually talk about everything EXCEPT for the game that's going on right in front of them. I watched a Philly game once where they talked about boxing for half of the second period and even interviewed a guy LOL