Unmasked: Goalies understand risk of losing front teeth

Missing front teeth might be one of the most cliched signs of being a hockey player, but contrary to popular belief, NHL goalies are not excluded from this club.

Their fancily adorned full face masks may cover the mouth area, unlike the helmets worn by skaters. Yet when rising pucks catch them the right way in the mask, it can feel like being punched in the mouth. And sometimes, perhaps more than most realize, the bottom edge of the mask's face opening is slammed up hard enough to knock some -- or at least parts of some -- teeth out.
It doesn't even need to be a slap shot.
"Mine aren't fully lost but both of my front teeth are capped in the middle," said Jake Allen of the Montreal Canadiens. "A wrist shot hit the mask and it came up and hit the top of my teeth in morning skate. It wasn't ideal, but it was all right. Just fill them in for now and I'll fix it when hockey is over. There's no point in doing it now."
That's because Allen knows there's always a chance another shot catches his mask and drives the lower chin portion into his top teeth.
Goalies seem more aware of the possibility after Ben Bishop lost his front teeth while making a save for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 25, 2016. He admitted at the time he was shocked.
Craig Anderson of the Buffalo Sabres was also surprised the first time it happened to him, but after losing his front teeth three times in 20 NHL seasons, the 41-year-old knows the risks better than most.
"You always knew you would get hit in the mask but, yes, I was] assuming teeth 'should' be safe,'" Anderson said.
Most goalies prefer to be as "deep" in their masks as possible because sightlines improve the closer their face is to the metal cage bolted onto the shell of the mask. That means there isn't much of a gap between the lower portion of that shell and the mouth of the person wearing it.
The combination of shots travelling up to 100 miles an hour with give in the chin cup that helps hold the mask in place -- and some goalies wear a looser fitting chin sling instead -- can lead to a trip to the dentist.
You don't even need to play in the NHL to learn that lesson the hard way.
Casey DeSmith of the Pittsburgh Penguins has heard of countless incidents.
"My buddy, in summer skate, it happened twice in the same summer," DeSmith said. "He got it fixed and it happened again. I think it's the result of the way the helmet sits on your face. Mine sits far away but I know other goalies where the middle bar is almost touching their nose. That means the bottom is right there, so if you get a really hard one on the chin, it pushes up that chin right into your mouth. Mine sits far enough away where if I get hit in the chin, it kind of just shock absorbs it."
New Jersey Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood lost several teeth after taking a one-timer off the mask from hard-shooting New York Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock on Jan. 7, 2020. Along with Bishop's lost tooth in 2016, it's the example most current goalies point to when it comes to knowing the risks, yet most seem comfortable with their level of protection.
Semyon Varlamov of the Islanders, who chipped a tooth when he was 16 and didn't have as good of a mask, and Winnipeg Jets backup goalie David Rittich, who also had a tooth chipped by a shot when he was younger, are not overly concerned about the possibility of losing teeth now.
Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said he's more worried about getting hit on the bench after a player was hit into it. That sliced open his finger when he was 15, requiring surgery.
"The helmets are so good now it would have to be a crazy fluke thing," Oettinger said. "I'm terrified sitting on the bench. I wear both my gloves, I'm always ready to go. I'm way more scared about that."
The risk of taking a shot off the mask has never been higher, however, even from friendly fire in practices.
In an era when goalies spend more time either dropping to, or moving on, their knees in the butterfly and players with increasingly hard shots are taught to aim high, goalies regularly experience the smell of burning rubber from shots that graze their mask, leaving behind black marks and an unmistakable odor.
"At least once every practice I want to say, and it really does smell like burned rubber, just like from a racing track," said
[Jonas Johansson
, a goalie with Colorado of the American Hockey League, an affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. "You get some bad ones that hit the face once in a while, but I haven't lost any teeth yet, so fingers crossed."
If it does happen, at least goalies get a chance to show they too are "hockey-player tough."
Neither Bishop nor Blackwood left the game after losing their teeth to shots.
"If I got hit and (teeth) came out, I think it would kind of look cool," Oettinger said.
NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report