BOSTON – The San Jose Sharks will be without winger Igor Chernyshov for an undetermined amount of time after he sustained an upper-body injury in the team’s game against the Ottawa Senators earlier this week.

Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Saturday that Chernyshov, now considered week-to-week, has returned to San Jose for further evaluation.

With the puck in the Sharks zone and just over four minutes left in the first period of Thursday’s game, Chernyshov got in front of a slap shot from Senators defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo and appeared to be hit in the left arm or hand. Chernyshov left the game and did not return as the Sharks went on to a 6-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre.

The 20-year-old Chernyshov, in his second full season as a professional in North America, is tied for eighth on the Sharks roster with four points in 11 games and had been playing on the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith when he was injured.

Analytically, the trio was superb, with an expected goals-for percentage of 64.1 in nine games this season, according to Natural Stat Trick. When Smith and Celebrini have had another linemate, that xGF% number is 41.1.

Sharks center Alexander Wennberg also got injured on this road trip, leaving last Monday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body ailment. Wennberg is still on the trip but is also considered week-to-week.

“It’s a big loss,” Warsofsky said of Chernyshov’s injury. “Obviously, getting hit with him and (Wennberg) is tough. But again, (it’s an) opportunity for some guys to get in there and play some good minutes and fill some holes.”

With both Chernyshov and center Wennberg injured, the Sharks will adjust their forward lines for Saturday’s game against the Boston Bruins as they finish a six-game road trip.

Collin Graf will replace Chernyshov on the Sharks’ top line alongside Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, and Adam Gaudette will make his season debut. Gaudette spent the first four games of the season on injured reserve and has been a scratch for the last seven. He will start tonight’s game on the fourth line with center Zack Ostapchuk and Barclay Goodrow.

Graf has spent plenty of time with Celebrini and Smith, and that chemistry helped him reach career highs last season with 41 points, including 21 goals, in 81 games.

“We have that kind of in our back pocket in a sense, and we can put him up there,” Warsofsky said of moving Graf to the top line again.

Graf, Smith, Gaudette and Warsofsky are all Massachusetts natives. Warsofsky said he has at least “30 or 40” friends and family in attendance.

Gaudette led Northeastern to its first Beanpot tournament in 30 years in 2018, the year he won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player.

Now, though, Gaudette is simply eager to return to the Sharks’ lineup.

“I think problems happen when you’re overthinking things, trying to do too much,” Gaudette said. “So I’m just going to keep it simple, trust the systems, trust my linemates, and go out there and have fun. That’s why I play this game. It’s fun.”

Ty Dellandrea will center the Sharks’ third line with Mason Marchment and Tyler Toffoli. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic will start for the fourth time on the six-game trip. He’s 3-0-1 with a .917 save percentage in four games this season, all on the road, and is 2-0-1 with a .916 save percentage in three games so far on this trip.

Warsofsky said he and his staff considered starting Yaroslav Askarov again after his career-best 41-save performance against the Senators on Thursday, but said, “I just think we’ve got two goalies right now playing really good hockey, and anytime you have that, you feel comfortable with both of them.”

With 12 forwards still available, the Sharks did not recall anyone from the Barracuda for Saturday. It’s unclear if that will change by early next week as the Sharks begin a four-game homestand on Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sharks are 3-1-1 on the trip so far and 4-2-1 away from home this season. They entered Saturday in fourth place in the Pacific Division with 13 points, four points back of the first-place Edmonton Oilers.

“It’s been a good road trip. Now we have a chance to make it great, so that’s our challenge,” Sharks winger Kiefer Sherwood said. “That’s the message, right? We have a chance to really start to separate ourselves a little bit and make it a great road trip.”