New York Islanders: End of the Line for John Tavares

John Tavares' campaign to reign supreme as a NHL 13 cover finalist came to a screeching halt Tuesday morning.

Despite overcoming matchups as the underdog against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers, he was not able to receive enough votes to overcome goaltender Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators.

Rinne joins Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers in the finals. The winner will grace the cover of EA Sport's NHL 13 video game when it releases this fall.

The New York Islanders thanked all the voters who took the time out to vote for Tavares.

“A huge thanks to #Isles and the hockey community for supporting #JT91. Best of luck to Giroux and Rinne in the #NHL13Cover final,” said the NY Islanders official Twitter page.

The Islanders' campaign during the semifinal round of voting consisted of campaigns such as “North America vs. the World” as they preached voters to vote for Giroux and Tavares.

While it may be a surprise to some, this shows how popular of a player John Tavares is around the world. Social media marketing campaigns over websites such as Twitter and Facebook also show you how well liked the young center is.

Islanders players such as Michael Grabner, Matt Moulson, Matt Martin and Dylan Reese showed their support for Tavares on Twitter throughout the campaign.

Players on other teams such as Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens, Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks campaigned for Tavares throughout the voting also.

If John Tavares is ever going to get the chance to represent the NHL on the cover of the video game, it will need to wait until next year, upon the release of NHL 14.

Christopher Benini is a New York Islanders Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and can be followed here.