Penguins blank the Panthers 4-0 in 6-foot-9 goalie Cooper Black's NHL debut

Cooper Black made NHL history just by taking the ice Thursday night. The Florida Panthers rookie, listed at 6-foot-9, became the tallest goalie ever to play in an NHL regular-season game. The result went the other way: Arturs Silovs shut out Florida and the Pittsburgh Penguins won 4-0 at PPG Paints Arena.

Black made 18 saves in his debut, according to the AP recap. Florida dropped its second game in two nights after Wednesday's 5-1 loss in Ottawa.

How it went

Nick Robertson opened the scoring at 15:19 of the first period, with assists from Connor Dewar and Kris Letang. Hendrix Lapierre made it 2-0 halfway through the game after a feed on the rush from Ville Koivunen.

Evgeni Malkin scored 1:40 into the third, his third goal in four games per the AP, and Robertson added his second of the night at 17:34. Lapierre and Malkin each finished with a goal and an assist.

Silovs was only tested now and then, the AP wrote, and he picked up his second shutout of the season and the fourth of his career.

Where they stand

The win was a reset for Pittsburgh after a Western Conference road trip that included losses to Chicago, Colorado, Vegas and Utah. The Penguins are 4-6-1 and host Nashville on Saturday.

Florida is 5-4-2 and went 0 for 4 on the power play, according to ESPN's game summary. The Panthers keep going on a four-game road trip with a stop in Chicago on Sunday.

The Panthers posted video of Black's postgame comments after the loss.