GLENDALE, Arizona — Center Tomas Hertl flew back to the Bay Area on Friday for further evaluation after he suffered a lower body injury — possibly to his troubled right knee — during the Sharks’ 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues the night before.

Hertl will miss the Sharks’ game against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday that will close out a six-game road trip, and coach Pete DeBoer said the team will know more about Hertl’s condition after it arrives back in San Jose.

Hertl, whose right knee was injured most recently on June 1 during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, will have an MRI performed, according to DeBoer.

Hertl missed the final four games of the Cup final after he absorbed a hit from Pittsburgh’s Patric Hornqvist. Although it didn’t require surgery, Hertl’s injury kept him from playing for the Czech Republic at the World Cup of Hockey.

“Anytime you’re sending a guy back early on a trip to get looked at, there’s concern,” DeBoer said. “But you look around the league and everyone’s dealing with injuries. A lot of injuries to key guys, so we have to continue on here.”

Hertl, 23, appeared to be injured on a collision with Blues forward Jori Lehtera with 4:51 to go in the second period of Thursday’s game.

With the Sharks and Blues playing 4-on-4, Hertl went to check Lehtera, who had just picked up a loose puck between the blue line and the top of the circle to the right of San Jose goalie Martin Jones.

Hertl’s collision with Lehtera appeared to injure his right leg. Hertl was able to clear the puck into the Blues’ zone soon after, but skated to the bench and was limping as he walked to the Sharks’ dressing room. He didn’t return to the game.

“It wasn’t one of those situations where it was really evident and it didn’t look really serious,” DeBoer said. “Hopefully, it’s not. We’ll wait and see.”

It’s another frustrating turn of events for Hertl, who was having a strong start to his fourth NHL season with nine points in 17 games. As a rookie, Hertl needed surgery on Dec. 31, 2013 to repair ligaments after a knee-to-knee collision with Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings two weeks prior.

“He’s been through a lot for a young guy,” DeBoer said. “He was playing great, arguably been one of our best players here through the first 20 games after a summer of rehab. So you feel for him.”

With forward Melker Karlsson still recovering from his own lower body injury that he suffered almost a week ago, the Sharks were down to 11 forwards for their Friday afternoon practice at Gila River Arena.

Center Chris Tierney and defenseman Brent Burns also did not skate, but both are expected to play Saturday as the Sharks hope to close out their season-long road trip on a positive note after back-to-back losses.

Karlsson, who was injured Nov. 12 blocking a shot by Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman, is improving and hasn’t been ruled out for Saturday’s game. But DeBoer said the Sharks have enough players to dress against the Coyotes “even in a worst-case scenario” and won’t need to call up anyone from the Barracuda of the AHL right now.

Hertl began the year as a winger on the Sharks No. 1 line with Joe Thornton and captain Joe Pavelski, although he’s spent the majority of the season as the third line center. He was a key member of the second power play unit and had been used by DeBoer to play in all situations, averaging a career-best 16 minutes and 28 seconds of ice time per game.

“Everyone just does their job,” Pavelski said when asked how the group compensates for the loss of Hertl. “We don’t need to do more, you still have to do your job and if we get a little more out of guys, that’s big. The (penalty kill’s) got to be good, the (power play) can get going.

“He’s a big piece to our team. We saw it last year. So there’s definitely a little bit of a void there, but the next guy is going to come in, he’s going to step up and do the job.”