Blues' Ryan O'Reilly pulls out tooth before acceptance speech at the ESPY Awards

There’s simply no denying that Ryan O’Reilly is a good, small-town kid.

The winner of the 2019 Conn Smythe Award as the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs after leading the St. Louis Blues to their first championship in franchise history, O’Reilly was tasked with giving the acceptance speech at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday after his squad won ‘Best Comeback’ of the year.

Before speaking to the audience with his teammates around him, the 28-year-old from Clinton, Ont. pulled out his fake tooth for fear he might “spit on any of the celebs in the front row.”

After sitting last in the NHL standings early in January, the Blues went on their improbable run to Lord Stanley’s mug.

O’Reilly didn’t want to focus on just the good times, though.

“Big thanks to the fans of St. Louis,” he said. “There was some dark times this year and they stuck with us. They kept buying tickets and supporting us and eventually we got things going and turned it around.”

On top of that, he made a special mention of 11-year-old super fan Laila Anderson.

Clocking in at around a minute, the speech was well executed, heartfelt and touching.

However, most importantly, it went better than one of the last times the 28-year-old had a camera on him and microphone in his face.

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