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Tavares’ MCL partially torn, won’t require surgery

New York Islanders v Washington Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 04: John Tavares #91 of the New York Islanders skates down the ice against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center on February 4, 2014 in Washington, DC.

G Fiume

After a week of mostly bad news, Islanders captain John Tavares relayed some good on Tuesday.

Tavares told assembled media he only suffered a partially torn MCL in a collision with Latvian defenseman Arturs Kulda at the Winter Olympics, meaning he won’t need to undergo surgery to repair the ligament.

The 23-year-old also said his expected timetable for rehab is 8-12 weeks.

The injury will still keep Tavares out for the remainder of the regular season though, meaning he’ll miss substantial time (22 games) for the first time in his NHL career. Prior to the MCL tear, he’d appeared in 350 of 354 games since debuting during the 2009-10 campaign.

Tavares had same partial MCL tear in left knee at 16, needed 6 weeks to recover. Familiar with recovery for injury at least.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) February 25, 2014

Related: Isles GM Snow furious over Tavares injury; calls IOC, IIHF ‘a joke’