SoFla Guide Editors
Cooper Black officially became the tallest goalie ever to play in an NHL regular-season game on Thursday night, and he made 18 saves in his debut for the Florida Panthers. The bad news: the Pittsburgh Penguins shut out Florida 4-0 at PPG Paints Arena on October 22, 2026, according to NHL.com. History was made. Points were not.
A record-setting first night in net
The Panthers list Black at 6-foot-9, which makes him the tallest goaltender to appear in an NHL regular-season game, NHL.com reported on the team’s site. That tops the previous record of 6-foot-7, a mark shared by Ben Bishop, Mikko Koskinen, Ivan Fedotov and Mads Sogaard.
A quick tape-measure caveat. Black’s height has reportedly been listed at 6-foot-8 by some outlets, including The Hockey News via Yahoo Sports, Heavy.com and the ECHL’s league news as published by the Press of Atlantic City. The Panthers’ official site and the AP wire both used 6-foot-9 for his debut. Either way, this is a goalie who doesn’t need a step stool to change the lightbulbs at his place.
His coach had the best scouting report of the night.
“That’s a big lad,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said, via NHL.com. “A man that size, it takes a long time to grow into that body.”
Black stopped 18 shots in the loss, The Washington Post reported, carrying the Associated Press account of the game.
How the Penguins got it done
Pittsburgh spread the scoring around. Nicholas Robertson scored twice, and Evgeni Malkin and Hendrix Lapierre each added a goal and an assist, according to NHL.com.
At the other end, Arturs Silovs made 26 saves for the shutout. NHL.com reported it was his second shutout of the season and the fourth of his NHL career, and that the win snapped a four-game losing skid for Pittsburgh.
Silovs summed up the Penguins’ mood plainly.
“I think today, we’re desperate. We’re trying to win every single battle and get every single puck,” he said, via NHL.com.
Florida had a golden chance to get back into it in the second period. Silovs was handed a double minor for high-sticking Sam Bennett at 16:17 of the period, giving the Panthers a four-minute power play. They did not record a single shot on goal during it, NHL.com reported. Four minutes. Zero shots. That’s the kind of stat that gets replayed in the film room with the lights very, very low.
The long road to the big show
Black’s path to Thursday night was anything but a straight line, and it’s a fun one.
He signed with the Panthers as an undrafted free agent in April 2024 after playing college hockey at Dartmouth College, according to NHL.com. The team then signed him to a two-year, two-way contract extension on June 8, 2026.
He’s also a proud product of the minor-league grind. The ECHL’s league news, published by the Press of Atlantic City, reported that Black is a former Savannah Ghost Pirates goaltender and the 783rd former ECHL player to reach the NHL.
The same report said Black is 25 years old and hails from Alpena, Michigan. In his most recent full AHL season with Charlotte (2025-26), he posted a 25-13-4 record in 42 games with a 2.47 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage and one shutout.
What it means for Panthers fans
For folks watching from Sunrise to South Beach, the scoreboard stings. A shutout loss on the road, plus a power play that never got off the launchpad, isn’t the way anybody wants to spend a Thursday night.
But there’s a real silver lining in net. Black got his first NHL game under his (very long) belt, held his own with 18 saves, and earned a public thumbs-up from his head coach. For a goalie who went undrafted, worked his way through Dartmouth, Savannah and Charlotte, and then walked into an NHL crease as the tallest netminder the league has ever seen, that’s a pretty memorable first chapter.
The Panthers’ offense, meanwhile, will want to find the net again quickly. Shooting the puck on a four-minute power play would be a fine place to start.
