Olympic Hockey Hero Reveals Why His Front Teeth Are Still Missing

The hero of the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team revealed why he has yet to fix the dental injury he sustained right before scoring the game-winning goal at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

Jack Hughes, 24, spoke about his quirky new grin on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday. He was joined by Hilary Knight, 36, who led Team USA’s women’s Olympic hockey team to gold-medal glory, and his brother, 26-year-old Quinn Hughes.

“You lived a moment every kid who plays hockey dreams of, Jack—you scoring the game-winner in a gold medal game,” Fallon said to Jack.

He added, “But before that, you got hit in the mouth, and you got your tooth knocked out.”

Jack laughed, covering his mouth as the audience applauded.

Fallon said that he would “freak out” if he got hit in the face at a game, but Jack was calm when he recalled what happened at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

There were around four minutes left of game time during the third period, according to Jack, when Canadian forward Sam Bennett’s stick hit him, and Jack lost big pieces of two of his front teeth.

“We were serious, trying to win this thing,” he said.

“I just remember Quinn—he was the first guy closest to me—I remember him coming up to me at the TV timeout, and he was like, ‘It’s not that bad. Like, it’s only chipped,’” Jack said.

The audience laughed as Jack smiled with a visible gap in his teeth.

The team defeated Canada 2–1 during overtime, winning their first Olympic gold medal since 1980, thanks to a goal scored by Jack.

Although he played with a bloody mouth, Jack said the broken teeth gave him an even bigger issue.

“You don’t want to spend time in the dentist’s chair, obviously,” he said, adding, “That’s the biggest issue, I’d say.”

At the time of the interview, over a week had passed since the historic game. During that time, Jack made appearances everywhere from the White House to Saturday Night Live. Now, he is back on the ice with the New Jersey Devils.

“So, you haven’t had time to get anything repaired?” Fallon asked, suggesting that the toothless look could become the young athlete’s “thing” if he chose to keep things as is.

“I can promise you, this won’t be my thing,” Jack said, confirming his plan to fix his broken teeth.

Although he covered his smile with his hand a few times during the appearance, Jack admitted fans want him to do the exact opposite.

“It’s funny because, like, since we’ve been back in the U.S., we feel the love like crazy. Like, so much support. But when people are coming up, like, for a picture, they’ll be like, ‘Smile,’” he said.

“You gotta show the tooth,” Fallon joked.