Gesundheit » began Tuesday sixth in the West,

SOCHI, Russia -- The New York Islanders lost their star and captain for the rest of the season because of an injury at the Sochi Games. "John Tavares has an MCL and meniscus tear in his left knee," team spokesman Kimber Auerbach wrote in an email Thursday. "He will remain with Team Canada for the remainder of Olympics and return home after for further evaluation." Tavares was hurt by a big hit along the boards by Latvias Arturs Kulda in the second period of Canadas 2-1 victory Wednesday night. He writhed in pain on the ice for several seconds before skating to the bench and going to his teams dressing room. "Thats tough," Canadian teammate Jeff Carter said. "He was a big part of our team and obviously, you dont want to see anybody get hurt no matter who they are playing for. He was a great guy in the room." Without Tavares, the defending Olympic champions will face the U.S. on Friday in the semifinals for a spot in the gold-medal game. The Islanders are in last place in their division, nine points behind New Jersey, and are among the teams with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference. Tavares has done his part to help his NHL team. The 23-year-old forward is the leagues third-leading scorer with 66 points in 59 games. He has never had significant injury problems in his five-season professional career, playing in 350 of a possible 354 games with New York. Tavares is the latest player from the league to get injured in Russia, perhaps giving NHL owners another reason to want to keep their players home and playing with them during the 2018 Olympics. The Florida Panthers sent just two players to Sochi, and both got banged up. Aleksander Barkov is expected to be out for about a month with a knee injury he got while playing for Finland. Tomas Kopecky is out indefinitely after getting elbowed in the head in a game for Slovakia. Mats Zuccarello of the New York Rangers had a hand injury that ruled him out of Norways finale against Russia. Detroit Red Wings and Swedish captain Henrik Zetterberg aggravated a pre-existing back injury, which the Olympic team said was a herniated disk, after his Sochi Games opener and is out indefinitely. Air Max 270 Mens Discount . The Raptors second-year forward has been one of the primary beneficiaries of the early-season trade, breaking out and becoming a vital part of his teams success on both ends of the floor. Around the league, teams are starting to take notice and feature Ross more predominately in their pre-game scouting reports but its not just the opposition that hes impressing. Nike Air Max 270 Flyknit China . Hamelin overcame a weak start to win bronze in the 500-metre race behind winner Wu Dajing of China and American J.R. Celski on Saturday at the world short track speed skating championship. http://www.max270cheap.com/air-max-270-mens-sale.html .com) - The Vancouver Canucks recovered from a fluke goal early last time out to knock off one of the top teams in the league. Nike Air Max 270 Ispa White . In the opening game of his fourth-round match at the U.S. Open, the owner of 17 major titles got passed at the net twice, sailed a backhand long, then missed two forehands to get broken. Air Max 270 White Cheap . He looked very comfortable Wednesday night. Konerko had a big three-run double and Gordon Beckham homered for the second straight game, leading the Chicago White Sox to an 8-3 victory over the sliding Chicago Cubs.WASHINGTON -- Every point matters more than ever to Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, who are part of a logjam in the Eastern Conference -- and on the outside of the playoff race, looking in, at the moment. So blowing two-goal leads, as the Capitals tend to do, and losing key players such as centre Nicklas Backstrom to injury are not exactly what they want. All of those bad things happened to the Capitals in a 5-4 shootout loss Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Kings, who came back after Ovechkin scored two early power-play goals. "Obviously, you miss Backy, but every team has guys that go out," said Capitals coach Adam Oates, who would only say that Backstrom has an upper-body injury. "Youve got 19 other guys that have got to do the job. Weve got plenty of guys that can do the job." Also "being evaluated," as Oates put it, after the game was defenceman Jack Hillen, who was involved in a scary moment halfway through overtime, colliding with Ovechkin at centre ice. Hillens helmet slammed into Ovechkins chest, and the game was put on hold for a bit. Ovechkin got the wind knocked out of him and took a knee, but returned to the game. Hillen got the worst of the impact and remained face-down on the ice while a trainer checked on him. Washington is ninth in the East, one spot out of the playoffs based on tiebreakers, even though it is one of four teams with 80 points, alongside No. 7 Columbus, No. 8 Detroit and No. 10 Toronto. The Capitals have nine games left, starting Saturday at home against Boston. So among the Capitals, there was a mix of relief at the idea of picking up one point against Los Angeles -- and disappointment at failing to get two after leading 2-0 thanks to Ovechkin before the game was 7 1/2 minutes old, and then being ahead 3-1 entering the third period. "Theres no excuse. We have to find a way to win when we are up two goals," Washington forward Marcus Johansson said. "It hurts a lot. You never know when it comes down to it -- in or out (of the playoffs) by one poinnt.dddddddddddd" Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored in the shootout for the Kings, and goalie Jonathan Quick caught Eric Fehrs attempt after rookie forward Evgeny Kuznetsov whiffed on Washingtons opening shot. Kuznetsov had tied the wild, back-and-forth game with 41.5 seconds left in regulation on his first NHL goal, a short-hander that came when he reached in to knock home a loose puck after it trickled through Quicks pads on Ovechkins shot. Plenty of fans thought Ovechkin was responsible for his third goal of the night, and they tossed their hats onto the ice. But his total stayed at a league-leading 48. While Kuznetsovs goal got the crowd excited, in the end, the Kings wound up winning their seventh consecutive road game and their fourth game in a row overall. They began Tuesday sixth in the West, and their playoff status is looking a lot more secure than Washingtons. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter wasnt pleased with the way his team started Tuesday. But he liked the way his players turned things around. "We just kind of hung in there," Sutter said. Mike Richards, Dwight King, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown scored for the Kings in regulation. The most important goal might have been Kings, which came 45 seconds into the third period and pulled Los Angeles within 3-2. "The boys stuck together, stuck with it," Kings defenceman Drew Doughty said. "We knew the whole time we were going to get back in that game." NOTES: LW Dustin Penner netted his first goal for the Capitals since arriving from Anaheim at the trade deadline. ... The Kings have seven victories in a row over Washington. ... Midway through the second period, Capitals F Troy Brouwer and Kings D Willie Mitchell were both called for penalties after a skirmish in front of Quicks net. Brouwer stayed down on the ice for a bit, then was helped up and led to the locker room. It wasnt immediately clear what was wrong. ... The Kings record is eight straight road wins, in the 1974-75 season. ' ' '