John Tavares injury update: Maple Leafs captain recovering after being kneed in head

Tom Gatto

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John Tavares injury update: Maple Leafs captain recovering after being kneed in head image

Maple Leafs captain John Tavares was taken off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a frightening-looking injury in his team's Stanley Cup playoff game against the Canadiens on Thursday.

Montreal's Corey Perry skated into Tavares just after Tavares was checked to the ice by defenseman Ben Chiarot. Perry's knee made contact with Tavares' head. The contact appeared to be accidental.

MORE: Foligno fights Perry after Tavares injury; Twitter asks why

Tavares was immediately attended to by the Leafs' training staff. It appeared as if he was unable to control his body movements.

Tavares was placed on a stretcher as his teammates gathered around him for support and Canadiens players watched with concern. Perry came over to him in a gesture of sportsmanship. Tavares gave a thumbs-up as he left the ice.

Tavares was taken to a hospital, where he remained overnight to undergo more testing.

Keefe said (per David Alter of The Hockey News) that Tavares was "conscious and communicating well" and preliminary tests had come back "clear." Keefe also said the injury was "probably the most uncomfortable situation that I've been a part of on the ice" given that it occurred in an empty arena.

On Friday morning, the Leafs provided another update on Tavares, stating that he was discharged from the hospital but was "out indefinitely" because of the injury. Tavares himself tweeted hours later that he had returned to his home to continue his recovery. 

Tavares, 30, was third on the North Division champion Leafs with 50 points during the regular season (19 goals, 31 assists).

The Canadiens and many others in the hockey world expressed hope that Tavares would be OK.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.