John Tavares plays amateur dentist, pulls out his own tooth (Video)

It goes without saying that John Tavares is the most important member of the New York Islanders. He's the face of the franchise. That in mind, you can understand why there was a little concern when a puck struck the face of the franchise's face Friday versus the Blackhawks.

Fortunately, Tavares was fine. Well, not fine. The puck bloodied his mouth up a little and even jarred loose a tooth. But never the matter: he just PULLED IT OUT HIMSELF ON THE BENCH.

And if you love watching horrible things on a perpetual loop, here's a gif of that cringeworthy moment:

More proof Tavares does it all for the Islanders: he's even the team dentist, apparently.

Tavares didn't miss a shift, which is crazy. I can safely say that if a piece of vulcanized rubber hit me in the mouth during my job, I'd be out of commission for awhile. And my job is sitting here writing about this.

Hockey players are different, though. Not only do they lose teeth fairly regularly, but they're not above plucking them out of their own mouths, should the situation call for it. Here's Eric Belanger doing the same thing in 2010:

And yet it's also the sport with the most hugging. Hockey, you crazy.