Jack Hughes Teeth: jack hughes teeth and the overtime shot that won U.S. Olympic hockey gold
Jack Hughes finished the Olympic men’s hockey final with a bloody mouth and missing front teeth, then buried the overtime winner to give the United States a 2-1 victory over Canada. The moment — and the strange injury that preceded it — helped secure the U. S. its first Olympic men’s hockey gold since the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
Jack Hughes Teeth and the overtime winner in Milan
Hughes scored the decisive goal in overtime to close out a 2-1 victory over Canada at the Milan Cortina Games. One account places the goal less than three minutes into 3-on-3 overtime while another says it came a little more than 1 1/2 minutes into extra time; both descriptions say the puck beat Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington and finished the contest. The play capped a game that delivered the United States its first men’s hockey gold since the 1980 team that upset the heavily favored Soviet Union at Lake Placid.
Stick to the face: Sam Bennett, the bloodied mouth and spittin’ chiclets
Hughes reached the winning moment after taking a stick to the mouth from Sam Bennett in the third period, an impact that left him with a bloody mouth and missing teeth. He described seeing his teeth on the ice and said, "I looked on the ice and saw my teeth. " The forward had previously had one tooth knocked out in an NHL game a few years earlier. The 24-year-old is a forward for the New Jersey Devils.
Connor Hellebuyck’s night: 41 saves and a key stick stop on Devon Toews
While Hughes provided the heroics, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was named the game’s standout, stopping 41 of 42 shots. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner made a pivotal stick save on Devon Toews at the doorstep that stood out among those 41 stops and helped keep the Americans in the game en route to overtime.
Family, teammates and a tribute to Johnny Gaudreau
Hughes’ older brother, Quinn Hughes, 26, is a defenseman for the Americans and was on the roster for the gold-medal run. Quinn praised Jack’s passion and competitiveness, saying, "No one loves the game more than him. He’s got so much passion. He’s a gamer. He made it happen. " Teammates also honored former teammate Johnny Gaudreau, who would have been part of the U. S. team if not for a tragic event that cost him and his brother their lives; players skated with Gaudreau’s jersey and brought out his children for the team photo.
Postgame reaction and Olympic context
After the win Hughes said, "I love the USA. I love my teammates. It's unbelievable, " and added that it was "a ballsy, gutsy win" against a great Canadian team, calling the victory proud and patriotic: "We're so proud to be American. Tonight was all for the country. " The win came 46 years to the day after the 1980 Olympic upset and closed out two weeks and 116 medal events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Other major sports headlines the same weekend
Coverage of the final days around the Games also noted several unrelated sports developments: Rondale Moore, a former Purdue standout, was found dead on Saturday with a gunshot wound suspected to be self-inflicted; he was 25 years old. In golf, Jacob Bridgeman avoided a Sunday collapse and held off Rory McIlroy to secure a one-shot victory at the Genesis Invitational, his first PGA Tour win. Curt Cignetti signed a new contract with Indiana that will pay him $13 million per season through 2033, a level of pay matched only by Lane Kiffin and Kirby Smart among college coaches. The Lakers unveiled a bronze statue of Pat Riley outside their arena on Sunday, placing it between statues of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Riley won four championships as head coach of the "Showtime" Lakers. In NASCAR, Tyler Reddick, after going winless in 2025, opened 2026 with two straight victories, adding Sunday’s double-overtime thriller to the Daytona 500 and becoming the first driver since 2009 to win the first two races of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
