Sharks suffer another injury as season nears end

SAN JOSE >> Add John Leonard’s name to the list of Sharks players who have likely played their last NHL game of the season.

Leonard, 22, was injured in the first period of Friday’s game with Arizona after he lost his balance — possibly getting the blade of his skate caught in the ice — and collided face-first into the boards in front of the Coyotes’ bench. Leonard was in pursuit of Arizona forward Christian Fischer in the neutral zone at the time of the accident.

Leonard remained face down on the ice for several moments before he was helped off and led into the Sharks’ dressing room.

“It’s pretty scary,” Sharks winger Kevin Labanc said Saturday. “You just hope that nothing bad happens, but he looks like he’s doing well. But it was just a scary couple of seconds there.”

Leonard was at SAP Center on Saturday morning, did not play against the Coyotes later in the night, and is “very doubtful” to play Wednesday when the Sharks finish the regular season at home against the Vegas Golden Knights, coach Bob Boughner said.

“He is here at the rink today, which is a good sign,” Boughner said. “He’s walking around.”

Sasha Chmelevski took Leonard’s place in the Sharks’ forward group as the Sharks look to split the series with the Coyotes, who won Friday’s game 5-2.

Leonard is in his first professional season. He came into Friday with 13 points in 43 games with the Sharks.

“It’s nice to see that he’s here,” Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson said of Leonard. “I don’t know the severity of what he’s dealing with. But it was a good sign to see him walking around and talking.”

Other injured Sharks players who are unlikely to return before the end of the season include forwards Logan Couture, Matt Nieto, Marcus Sorensen and Joachim Blichfeld, and defenseman Radim Simek.