In Monday night's season-ending game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, the Bolts made NHL history by starting the NHL's first-ever all-black line featuring Mathieu Joseph, Gemel Smith and Daniel Walcott, the latter playing in his very first NHL game.
Jay Recher and myself have been researching to see if there has ever been an all-black line in the NHL, but the closest we came was this past March, when the AHL's Ontario Reign became the first professional (not NHL) all-black line since the late 1940s, when the team played Akil Thomas, Quinton Byfield, and Devante Smith-Pelly.
In our belief, we are witness to a historic event that Tampa can be very proud of!
Photo: Getty Images