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SAN JOSE — Sharks captain Logan Couture had to leave Sunday’s game with the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center after he was struck in the side of the head by a puck midway through the first period.

The Sharks were on a power play when a deflected puck struck Couture, who was standing to the left of the Avalanche net. Timo Meier was inside the Avalanche blue line when he shot the puck, which changed direction as it went off the stick of J.T. Compher before it hit Couture.

Couture went off the ice with 9:20 left in the first period. The Sharks announced early in the second period Sunday that Couture was being evaluated and that he would not return.

While the Sharks were still on the power play, Joe Thornton scored his seventh goal of the season and his third in the last five games to give the Sharks a 1-0 lead with 8:44 to go in the first period.

After the injury, Joel Kellman took Couture’s spot on the Sharks’ top line with Evander Kane and Noah Gregor.

Kane took a cross checking penalty at the 15:04 mark of the first period. The Avalanche capitalized, with Nathan MacKinnon scoring his 35th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1 at the 16:17 mark of the first period.

Couture was in his seventh game back with the Sharks after he missed 17 games from Jan. 9 to Feb. 23. Couture suffered a small fracture in his ankle in a Jan. 7 game against the St. Louis Blues.

Couture had two goals and an assist in his last six games, in which the Sharks have gone 3-2-1. When Couture was out with his ankle injury, the Sharks went 7-10-0.

Coming into Sunday, Couture had 16 goals and 23 assists in 51 games.

The Sharks, who were 29-34-5 coming into Sunday, already have several other injured players.

Defenseman Mario Ferraro did not play Saturday against the Ottawa Senators and also missed Sunday’s game with a lower body injury. He is considered day-to-day. Fellow defenseman Jacob Middleton also has a lower body injury but is considered week-to-week and may not return for the rest of the season.

Center Tomas Hertl (knee) and defenseman Erik Karlsson (thumb) are both out for the season with their injuries, and Dalton Prout has only played two games as he has dealt with concussion symptoms for most of the season.