Black History Month spotlight: Smith-Pelly comes up big for Capitals

As part of the NHL's celebration of Black History Month, NHL.com will highlight great moments and important figures in black hockey history each day throughout February. Pioneers like Willie O'Ree, Angela James and Grant Fuhr will be featured.
Today we look at forward Devante-Smith Pelly, who helped the Washington Capitals win their first Stanley Cup last season.

Devante Smith-Pelly started the 2017-18 season having to battle his way onto the Washington Capitals roster.
The forward ended it as one of the heroes of the Capitals' first Stanley Cup championship in their 44th season.
The native of Scarborough, Ontario, spent most of the season as a bottom-six forward and had 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 75 games while using his athleticism to keep opposing scorers in check. He was also subject to racial taunts while sitting in the penalty box during a game at the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 17. As a black player in a mostly white sport, he said he'd heard similar taunts years before during a youth hockey tournament.
When the stakes got bigger in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Smith-Pelly delivered. He matched his regular-season total with seven goals in 24 games, including one each in Games 3, 4 and 5 of the Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. His last goal was the biggest; he scored on a diving shot midway through the third period of Game 5 to tie it 3-3 and set the stage for Lars Eller's Cup-winning goal less than three minutes later.

"I've been dreaming about it since I was a little kid," Smith-Pelly said. "The team, with so much change, you didn't know what to expect. We knew we could do something special, and we did."
No one was prouder of Smith-Pelly's accomplishments than Michael Marson, a fellow native of Scarborough who became the NHL's second black player in 1974 with the Capitals.
"He was heroic. He scored the most-important goals, I believe," Marson told colorofhockey.com. "I take my hat off to [Smith-Pelly]. … Good for him. He came out the superstar and was all that he could be."