Sharks' Tomas Hertl Day-to-day After Suffering Knee Injury Vs. Ducks

Any reference to a possible knee injury for Tomas Hertl should make all Sharks fans hold their breath, but it sounds like they can exhale.

After departing San Jose's 5-3 win over the Ducks on Thursday night in the third period following a collision with Anaheim forward Sam Steel, Hertl did not return to the game, and his status was not updated by the team afterward.

That changed Friday when Sharks coach Peter DeBoer told reporters that images of Hertl's right knee taken earlier that morning confirmed, "that it looks like it's minor and that's good news."

When asked Friday, Hertl said he is day-to-day and that he was going to see the team doctor in the afternoon to get treatment. The injury comes at a particularly unfortunate time, as Hertl is in the midst of a career-best five-game goal-scoring streak, which perfectly coincides with San Jose's five-game winning streak.

"I was coming back and the guy was falling, for sure my knee, and fell on it," Hertl described to The Mercury News' Curtis Pashelka. "I've got some history, so we just take it back and just check. That's why they take me out and I couldn't even finish the game. We'll see. For now, it's just day-to-day. But nothing serious and hopefully be OK for game."

The history to which Hertl referred to is the reason for the aforementioned breath-holding. In Dec. 2013, he required surgery to repair damage to the MCL and PCL in the same right knee. He re-injured it again in Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Final and sprained it the following November and missed 33 games.

"Before it was always way worse, but sometimes even the small things you can make worse," Hertl said. "But this time, hopefully, (it's) just a little tweak or something and it will be alright."

[RELATED: What we learned as Sharks' win streak reaches five games]

The Sharks go for their sixth straight win when they host Red Wings on Saturday night, and it remains to be seen if Hertl will be in the lineup to face Detroit. San Jose could elect to place Hertl on injured reserve to free up a roster spot if needed, but that would mean he would be ineligible to play for at least a week. As Pashelka notes, another option would be to place rookie defenseman Mario Ferraro -- who hasn't played since Nov. 7 -- on retroactive IR.

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