from Emily Kaplan of ESPN,

Smith-Pelly settled into the penalty box, removed his helmet and took a sip of water. That's when he heard the jeers. A guy sitting next to the glass was chanting, "Go play bas-ket-ball! Bask-et-ball! Bask-et-ball!" Several other fans joined in. Smith-Pelly turned to the NHL official manning the box. "Am I hearing things?" he asked. "Or is that really what they're saying?"

"Yeah," the official responded. "I hear it too."

It wasn't the first time Smith-Pelly, who is black, had heard racial taunts directed at him during a hockey game. But this was the first time he responded. He grabbed his stick and lunged toward the glass, shouting back at the fans. One of them stood up; his voice escalated as he pointed his finger at Smith-Pelly. A second man stood, and others started waving at Smith-Pelly.

Back home in Toronto, Jacqueline Smith watched on television as the incident unfolded. Her husband and Devante's father, Wayne Pelly, was at the arena -- it was the Capitals' annual dads' trip -- so she texted him. "Something is wrong with Devo," Smith wrote. Pelly caught a glimpse of the replay on a TV in the arena. "The second I saw the stick in [Devante's] hand," Pelly says. "I knew what it was. I knew the only thing that would get him that upset.

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