Cooper Black Debuts in Pittsburgh as Panthers Stall Again

Florida's offence went quiet for a second straight night, and the Panthers now have a two-game losing streak after a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday. The score tells part of the story. The rest is that the Panthers have one goal across their last six periods, and the goalie they handed the net to deserved much better.

A debut under a heavy load

Here's the context. Florida lost 5-1 to Ottawa on Wednesday, the night Brady Tkachuk played his first game against his former team. Akira Schmid took that one and got little help. Then Jacob Markström was sidelined with an undisclosed injury, and Paul Maurice turned to Cooper Black, who was making his NHL debut.

Black is 25 and stands 6-foot-9. He will go down in NHL history as the tallest goaltender to appear in a game, according to SportsCenter. He also became just the fifth goalie to debut for the Panthers and the first since Spencer Knight in 2021. Not many franchises can say that about a goalie debut, and it's a list that doesn't turn over quickly.

He allowed three goals, including one to future Hall of Famer Evgeni Malkin. Black stopped 18 shots against a Penguins group led by Sidney Crosby. For a first start on the road in a building like PPG Paints Arena, that's a line that should give the organization something to build on. Goalies who arrive this young and this tall often need a few starts before the rest of the league figures out how to play against them. Black showed enough composure to make that conversation worth having.

Penalties: lots of them, not much to show

After 11 games, the Panthers have drawn the most penalties in the NHL. They also have taken the most penalty minutes. That's the yin and yang of this team. Florida is getting the chances, but it is also spending long stretches shorthanded because of its own discipline.

Thursday's special teams numbers were a mirror of that. Pittsburgh didn't score on its three power plays. Florida went 0-for-4. The power play opened the season 1-for-28, then converted nine of its next 20 opportunities over five games. That's a meaningful run, but it's been followed by another blank night. Opportunities only matter when they become goals, and right now the unit is still searching for a steady rhythm.

The penalty kill is the bright spot. Florida has killed off 38 of 46 chances, which is roughly 83 percent. That's a solid number for a team taking this many minutes. It also means the penalty kill is absorbing a lot of pressure that the offence should be relieving.

Where did the attack go?

There's a difference between competitive edge and losing the thread. Playing with physicality, standing up for teammates and protecting the front of the net are all part of how Florida plays. The team has also been at its best when its offence is aggressive, with enough speed and pressure to turn games into a rout. Several players have stacked hat tricks and point streaks in recent weeks, and that's the team fans remember.

This time, the energy went elsewhere. Some of the after-whistle scrums and trips to the box took shifts away from the game plan. Thursday's loss was the Panthers' first shutout of the season, and it came after a stretch where the top forwards, the depth players and the defence were all contributing offensively. That kind of sudden drop-off often points to fatigue, a mental letdown after an emotional week, or both. It's hard to tell which from one game, and the team's own coaching staff will have a clearer read.

Of course, an 84-game season will have peaks and valleys. But when the goaltending has been inconsistent and the goals aren't coming, the valleys start to feel longer. Fans will start asking where the roar went, and the answer will have to come from the ice.

What's next for the Panthers

Florida doesn't play again until Sunday, which gives the group time to reset. The next opponent is a young Chicago Blackhawks team led by Connor Bedard and veteran Patrick Kane. After that Sunday afternoon game, the Panthers head back to Canada to face the Winnipeg Jets, who are coming off their Heritage Classic appearance against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Winnipeg trip raises a separate question. Connor Hellebuyck remains with the Jets, and the big question around that club is whether he will still be part of the organization or be traded. For Florida, that matters only as a reminder of how much goaltending can shape a season. Markström's status will matter, and so will how Black handles a second start if he gets one.

My read: the debut was a positive for Black, and the penalty and power-play numbers are the things to watch. If Florida can turn its 38-of-46 penalty kill and its pile of penalty chances into more goals, the losses will look like a short slump. If the offence stays quiet, the team will need to find its edge again quickly.