Jimmy Vesey’s Nasty Injury Made Even Breathing Painful

He played the rest of the game with two teeth stuck in his lip!

Rangers winger Jimmy Vesey lost his two front teeth in Saturday’s win over the Oilers. Well, he didn’t really lose them—he found them later embedded in his lower lip. 

The injury, which was the result of a skate to the face from Zack Kassian, didn’t knock him out of the game, though. He got all the blood cleaned up and ended up playing the third period with the teeth still lodged in his face.

That’s not even the worst of it. As Vesey explained after returning to practice on Monday—following “a couple root canals” ​on Sunday—even drawing breath hurt. 

“I knew right away my teeth were gone,” Vesey said, according to the New York Post. “I guess the nerve was exposed and when I was breathing, just air hitting the nerve was really sensitive and painful.”

Vesey also seemed somewhat surprised to discover that the teeth were right under his nose the whole time 

“I knew I was getting some sort of stitches when I was leaving,” Vesey said. “They had to remove my teeth, I didn’t know what the deal was going to be, but once we got in there, the thing that delayed it a little bit was the X-rays. Luckily enough they saw my teeth were in my lip.”

Despite the dental nightmare, Vesey is expected to be in the lineup when the Rangers are back in action on Wednesday against the Blackhawks.