PITTSBURGH \u2013 Florida Panthers goalie Cooper Black skated onto the PPG Paints Arena ice alone during pregame warmups on Thursday night, a time-honored hockey tradition given to rookies everywhere.<\/p>\n
It took Black fewer strides to make the memorable lap than most.<\/p>\n
Call it one of the upsides of being 6-foot-9.<\/p>\n
Black made NHL history in his first career start when he became the tallest goaltender to ever appear in a regular-season game. Black is listed as two inches taller than Ben Bishop, Ivan Fedotov, Mads Sogaard and Mikko Koskinen, all 6-7. <\/p>\n
The 25-year-old from Alpena, Michigan, who started playing when he was 8 and had a 5-inch growth spurt between his junior and senior years in high school when he shot up from 6-0 to 6-5 and kept right on going, made 18 saves in a 4-0 loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cool right, growing up, all the guys you kind of saw and watched as a kid, even as a goalie,\u201d Black said. “Cool experience to play against the guys, would have been nicer to win.\u201d<\/p>\n Black, called up from Florida’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte recently after Jacob Markstrom went down with a shoulder injury, stopped Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang with his blocker pad on a wrist shot about two minutes in. He also turned aside a breakaway opportunity by Penguins forward Rickard Rakell before giving up a goal to 5-9 Pittsburgh forward Nick Robertson, who beat Black to the glove side.<\/p>\n Panthers head coach Paul Maurice praised Black’s development in recent years. Florida signed Black as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2024. Black blossomed last season in Charlotte, posting a 25-13-4 record with a 2.47 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.<\/p>\n \u201cA man that size, it takes a long time to grow into that body,\u201d Maurice said with a smile before the game, adding with a laugh, \u201cI think he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n