DiPietro’s First Shutout on Hockey Fights Cancer Night, Cooper Black Makes NHL History
Plus: Michal Postava's surprise NHL debut when John Gibson couldn't return, Devin Cooley is the first star again, Darcy Kuemper and Yaroslav Askarov make 41 saves each, and to close, Eddie Giacomin's first NHL shutout, 60 years ago today
In this edition 7 stories
NHL
New on InGoal
Goalies in this edition 21 goalies
Every goalie named in this edition, from the NHL to junior and college.
NHL: Michael DiPietro (Boston Bruins), Cooper Black (Florida Panthers), Michal Postava (Detroit Red Wings), Daniil Tarasov (Detroit Red Wings), John Gibson (Detroit Red Wings), Devin Cooley (Calgary Flames), Darcy Kuemper (Los Angeles Kings), Semyon Varlamov (New York Islanders), Yaroslav Askarov (San Jose Sharks), Arturs Silovs (Pittsburgh Penguins), Frederik Andersen (Edmonton Oilers), Eddie Giacomin (New York Rangers), Johnny Bower (Toronto Maple Leafs), Al Rollins (Chicago Black Hawks), Jacques Plante (Montreal Canadiens), Dominik Hasek (Buffalo Sabres), Vesa Toskala (Toronto Maple Leafs), Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay Lightning), Brandon Bussi (Carolina Hurricanes), Alex Nedeljkovic (San Jose Sharks)
AHL: Carter Gylander (Grand Rapids Griffins)
NHLDiPietro's first NHL shutout comes on Hockey Fights Cancer Night
Boston’s dressing room was loud when Michael DiPietro finally came in on Thursday. He was the last Bruin through the door after stopping all 28 Nashville shots in a 6-0 win, the first shutout of his NHL career, and his teammates gave him an ovation. The night had more weight for him than most: it was the Bruins’ Hockey Fights Cancer Night, and DiPietro’s mother, Becky, passed away from cancer when he was five. “It means a lot for me, my family and everyone back home,” he said. “I just want to make them proud, and this is a real special moment.” He was a little stressed by it all, he admitted, “but obviously you can’t write it better” (NHL.com).
The 27-year-old has collected his first shutout in his seventh NHL game and his second win. The first win, in Anaheim on Oct. 16, came more than seven years after his NHL debut, the longest wait from a first game to a first win in league history by InGoal’s count, as our Oct. 17 edition reported. “It’s a dream come true for me to be here,” he said (NHL game center).
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 298 with Michael DiPietro and the messages DiPietro writes inside his blocker.
NHLCooper Black becomes the tallest goalie in NHL history
No goalie this tall had ever played in the NHL until Cooper Black started for Florida in Pittsburgh on Thursday. NHL.com lists him at 6-foot-9, which puts him level with Zdeno Chara, Curtis Douglas, and Matt Rempe as the tallest players in league history. The undrafted Dartmouth graduate, whose expected debut was in yesterday’s edition, made 17 saves as the Penguins won 4-0 (NHL.com).
Black was at his best early. About two minutes in, he got his blocker on a Kris Letang wrist shot, and later in the first period he turned away Rickard Rakell on a breakaway (The Associated Press). Pittsburgh didn’t score on him until 15:19 of the first period.
Black took a lesson from the three that got past him. “I think (you) just learn from the mistakes, right?” he said. “You go out there and you see the patience that those guys have on their stick. I think two of their goals, they kind of just waited me out, maybe, a little bit” (NHL.com).
Black told InGoal Radio in May what that size changes for a goalie. “I am so tall that if I hold my glove the way most people do, it’s gonna be literally covering above the crossbar,” he told David Hutchison. Equipment is its own problem: “They don’t even make skates that are big enough,” he said. He has size 16 feet and wears a 13 3/4 skate, while Bauer’s largest blade holder comes in a size 12 (InGoal Radio Episode 352).
On InGoal: The Tallest Goalie in NHL History Uses a 24-Inch Paddle and Episode 352: Florida Panthers prospect Cooper Black.
NHLPostava flies in from Grand Rapids and makes his NHL debut
Michal Postava began Thursday in Michigan and finished it in an NHL game on the west coast of Canada. Detroit recalled him from Grand Rapids under emergency conditions with Daniil Tarasov hurt, so he caught a 6 a.m. flight and reached Vancouver around noon. Then John Gibson stayed in at the second intermission with something in his eye, and Postava took over with the Red Wings ahead 4-1. He stopped seven of the eight shots he faced in the third period, and Detroit won 5-2. “It’s crazy,” Postava said, and the short notice may have helped: “I don’t have time to think about anything, so yeah, I just warm up and be ready.” When the Rogers Arena crowd mock-cheered every shot that reached a Detroit goalie, after Vancouver had managed five in two periods, he took it his own way: “I’m just thinking they’re grading my save.” Coach Todd McLellan said Gibson should be fine and Tarasov is day to day, and he had a message for his new goalie: “Did a real good job, happy for him, and congratulations, you’re in the NHL now” (Kevin Woodley, NHL.com).
The win stays with Gibson, who was in net when Detroit scored the goal that put it ahead for good, Lucas Raymond’s power-play goal at 8:56 of the first period (NHL game center).
Postava, 24, is from Valašské Meziříčí in Czechia. Detroit signed him as an undrafted free agent in June 2025, after a season in which he was the Czech Extraliga’s best goalie and playoff MVP for champion Kometa Brno. Last season in Grand Rapids he shared the Hap Holmes Award, given to the goalies of the AHL team with the lowest goals-against average, and he is 4-0-0 with a 1.25 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage this season (Red Wings). The Red Wings also moved Carter Gylander up from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye to Grand Rapids on Thursday (Grand Rapids Griffins).
NHLCooley stays unconscious as Calgary edges Minnesota
Devin Cooley turned aside Minnesota’s first 24 shots on Thursday, and the Wild didn’t score until 4:39 of the third. He finished with 36 saves on 37 shots in Calgary’s 2-1 win and was named the first star, as he was on Sunday when he ended Carolina’s streak (NHL game center). In the third period, coach Ryan Huska said, the Flames’ “goaltender was our best player.” Cooley sent the praise back to the skaters: “I’m really glad I was able to make some saves, because the guys tonight were just unbelievable” (NHL.com).
Joel Farabee went back to the “unconscious” goalie brain Cooley described after Sunday’s win, the quote Inc. magazine built a column around in yesterday’s edition: “Thank god he was tapped into his unconscious brain” (Sportsnet clip, posted by Robert Munnich on X, below).
On InGoal: Devin Cooley’s Pro Reads and Why Devin Cooley’s Viral “Nothing Matters” Mindset Actually Works for Goalies.
NHLAround the league
- Darcy Kuemper made 41 saves on Thursday as Los Angeles won 3-2 in overtime on Long Island, after the Islanders outshot the Kings 32-15 over two periods. With 57 seconds left in regulation, his right pad stopped Victor Eklund on the rebound of a Matthew Schaefer shot. “Kuemper was phenomenal,” coach Peter Laviolette said (NHL.com).
- At the other end, Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves in his first start at UBS Arena since Nov. 25, 2024, and stopped Adrian Kempe on a second-period penalty shot with his right pad, a save Islanders coach Peter DeBoer called “huge to keep us in that game” (NHL.com).
- Yaroslav Askarov also made 41 saves, 18 of them in the second period, and was the first star as San Jose won 6-2 in Ottawa. The best of them was a diving glove stop on Drake Batherson late in the second that kept the lead at three. “Thought our goaltender was great,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said (NHL.com).
- Arturs Silovs stopped all 26 shots in Pittsburgh’s 4-0 win over Florida, his second shutout this season and the fourth of his NHL career, and coach Dan Muse called him great (NHL.com).
- The Hurricanes presented Frederik Andersen, now with Edmonton, with his Stanley Cup ring when they were in Edmonton on Wednesday (Carolina Hurricanes on X).
- Under the new collective bargaining agreement, every NHL team now carries a full-time emergency backup goaltender who travels with it, and Detroit’s is Mason Kucenski, 24, who played three seasons at St. Lawrence and was an alternate captain there last season. “It’s a tremendous honor and a great experience so far,” he said (Red Wings).
On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 287 with Darcy Kuemper, Episode 62 with Semyon Varlamov and Oleg Romashko, and Arturs Silovs’ incredible Game 7 save.
HistoryEddie Giacomin's first NHL shutout, 60 years ago today
On this day in 1966, Eddie Giacomin stopped all 24 Toronto shots at Madison Square Garden for the first of his 54 NHL shutouts. Johnny Bower was nearly as stingy for the Maple Leafs, and the Rangers won 1-0 on Wayne Hillman’s goal at 7:14 of the third period, according to the Hockey-Reference box score and the NHL’s game page. It was the start of his breakout. In his first NHL season, 1965-66, he had won eight of 36 games without a shutout; in 1966-67 he won 30, led the league with nine shutouts, and made the First All-Star Team, according to Hockey-Reference. Giacomin went on to share the 1971 Vezina Trophy with Gilles Villemure, the Rangers retired his No. 1 in 1989, two years after he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame, and he passed away in September 2025 at 86 (Wikipedia).
Also on Oct. 23
- 1955: Al Rollins played his 300th regular-season NHL game, for Chicago in New York, the 18th goalie to reach 300 by the NHL’s current totals.
- 1960: Jacques Plante played his 400th regular-season game, making 23 saves in a Montreal win over the Rangers in New York, the 16th goalie to reach 400 by the NHL’s current totals.
- 1992: Dominik Hasek earned his first win as a Buffalo Sabre, stopping all six San Jose shots he faced.
- 2008: Vesa Toskala earned his 100th NHL win, making 26 saves for Toronto in Boston.
- 2015: Ben Bishop, one of four 6-foot-7 goalies who shared the mark as the tallest in NHL history until Cooper Black played last night, earned his 100th NHL win, making 33 saves for Tampa Bay in Winnipeg.
The game details in this list come from the NHL’s game records at NHL Records.
On InGoal: Dominik Hašek: Always the Goalie, inside the Sabres’ new film on the Dominator and InGoal Radio Episode 145 with Ben Bishop.
New on InGoalBussi's no-net drill and Nedeljkovic's post play
In the latest Pro Drills, Carolina’s Brandon Bussi and goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder use nothing but the side boards after a morning skate to work on extending a pad, then pushing toward the rebound instead of falling back on the second chance. Watch: Carolina Hurricanes Pro Drills: No Net Needed to Work Recovery and Release Patience.
In his newest Pro Read, San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic breaks down a loose puck behind his net that forced him to switch sides with Sam Reinhart cutting to his right post, and why his right inside edge is what gets him centred and square. Read: ‘That’s My Motor’: Inside Edge Keys on a Post Play with Alex Nedeljkovic.
Have goalie news, a big save, a signing, or a coaching hire? Send it to news@ingoalmag.com.