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Hughes' shattered smile drew a lot of attention on Sunday in Team USA's Olympic gold medal win. RvS.Media / Monika Majer / Getty Images
MILAN — It’s a photo that will live in American hockey history. Jack Hughes, moments after scoring the golden goal against Canada in Milan, with the American flag draped around his shoulders, his right fist in the air, his hair a sweaty mess, his face a bloody Jack-o-lantern.
He never looked better.
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“Who cares at this point?” Matt Boldy said. “To be honest, I think more people are looking at his medal than his teeth.”
Hughes was in the middle of everything as the Americans’ 2-1 overtime victory reached its climax. The New Jersey Devils center drew a massive four-minute power play when Canada’s Sam Bennett knocked out at least three teeth with a high stick to the mouth. Later, during the power play, Hughes delivered a high stick of his own to Bo Horvat that nullified the remainder of the power play. Then, on the game-winner, Hughes won two puck battles in his own end before racing down the ice and burying Zach Werenski’s feed for the biggest goal of his life.
But it’s his shattered smile that drew all the attention.
“My first thought was, draw the penalty,” Hughes said. “Actually, my first thought (was), I looked on the ice and saw my teeth.”
It was reminiscent of Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith eating a Patrick Marleau slap shot during the 2010 Western Conference final. Keith lost seven teeth and missed just seven minutes of game time as he got some emergency repairs, famously saying after the game, “Long way from the heart.”
Hughes didn’t miss a shift. Teeth aren’t considered terribly important to hockey players.
“It’s pretty easy (to move on),” Vincent Trocheck said. “You lose a lot of teeth as an NHLer. They get straighter as you lose them more.”
People will remember the smile, but they won’t forget the goal. Hughes started the tournament as a fourth-liner for Team USA, having scored just one goal in his last 18 NHL games with the Devils after returning from a hand injury suffered at a Chicago steakhouse.
He had four goals and three assists in Milan, his last shot the biggest of them all.
“He’s a freaking gamer,” big brother Quinn Hughes said. “He’s always been a gamer. Just mentally tough, been through a lot, loves the game. American hero.”
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Mark Lazerus is a senior NHL writer for The Athletic based out of Chicago. He has covered the Blackhawks and the league at large for 13 seasons for The Athletic and the Chicago Sun-Times. He has been named one of the top three columnists in the country twice in the past three years by the Associated Press Sports Editors. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkLazerus