RALEIGH, N.C. – Tyson Jost’s upper-upper-body injury luck ran out.

Jost has been wearing some fortified headgear. He was struck by a puck during a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames on March 5. He said he’s been hit in the face with sticks, but never a puck.

“It went off (Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s) shin pad there. Just hit me right between the bottom two teeth,” Jost said.

“My two teeth were pushed back an inch back underneath my tongue. I thought they were both gone, but then I got off the ice and had a little hole in my mouth. Had a fracture in the bottom of my teeth there.

“Wasn’t fun. Wasn’t pretty.”

Jost headed down the tunnel almost immediately. He said dentists and doctors went to work on him with only local anesthetic.

“They said I’ll probably lose them, but who knows,” Jost said.

They’ve hung on this long, somehow.

Jost had stitches inside and outside his mouth. He had multiple root canals scheduled at the end of a three-game Avalanche road trip.

Despite all of this, he hasn’t missed a game. He was in the lineup two nights after the Calgary game against the New York Islanders. Jost’s ice time stayed below 10 minutes each night of the road trip, but he put a shot on net in each of the three games.

In fact, coach Jared Bednar told the Denver Post that Jost was ready to return to the Calgary game.

“Good grit and determination,” Bednar said.

Before defenseman Samuel Girard left the road trip early and headed back to Denver with a lower-body injury, the Avalanche were scratching a healthy player each night. Jost’s facial injuries didn’t alter that approach.

Jost explained that it could have been worse, location-wise.

“It wasn’t terrible,” Jost said.

“I just put a bubble on and I was good to go.”

Dental woes that would make many call out of work haven’t stopped the Avalanche this season. Logan O’Connor said he also had to have a root canal Jan. 31 after he was tripped by his former University of Denver teammate, the Chicago Blackhawks’ Henrik Borgstrom. He hasn’t missed a game.

The Avalanche host the Flames again Sunday night.

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