Florida Panthers rookie goalie Black - all 6-feet-9 of him - makes NHL history in debut - TSN

PITTSBURGH (AP) — 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. It took Black fewer strides to make the memorable lap than most. Call it one of the upsides of being 6-foot-9. 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-foot-7. The 25-year-old from Alpen, 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, was excellent in his first period. 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 Nick Robertson, who beat Black to the glove side.