Sabres hoping for more production from Leino

BUFFALO -- When the Buffalo Sabres host the Los Angeles Kings at First Niagara Center on Tuesday, Sabres forward Ville Leino will be back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the team's 6-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

"I've been playing around 10 or 11 minutes and not really [on the] power play so you've got to do the best in your time," Leino said. "I could do a little better, do a little more. I've got another chance to go at it [Tuesday]."

Sabres coach Ron Rolston said he'll use Leino on the power play against the Kings.

"He's a guy we'd like to have in our top six," Rolston said. "He's a guy that we need production out of him to create scoring opportunities for us, whether it's 5-on-5 or power play."

The Sabres also will shuffle their lines, putting captain Steve Ott on the first line with Cody Hodgson and Matt Moulson.

"I told [Ott] he's part of one of the best lines I've ever seen in hockey with him and [Jason] Spezza and [Steve] Hildebrand on the [Windsor] Spitfires back in the OHL when I used to watch them," Moulson said. "I said if he can recreate that here we'll do just fine."

Ryan Miller was the first goalie off for the Sabres, which means it's likely he'll start Tuesday.

For the Kings, their game Tuesday marks the return of Robyn Regehr to Buffalo. He moved from the Sabres to the Kings on April 1 in a deadline-day trade.

"The only thing was, at the time, where the teams were," Regehr said. "At that point it looked like we weren't going to make the playoffs here in Buffalo. In L.A., things looked a lot better than that and I thought I had a decent shot at having a good run at the [Stanley] Cup, which we did. That's the only thing I really thought about. … It was really a simple decision about where the teams were at that exact moment last year."

When these two teams met Nov. 7 the Kings earned a 2-0 win at Staples Center in Los Angeles, scoring both goals on the power play. The Kings are hoping to do better at even strength this time around.

"First off, 5-on-5 it was 0-0 so if we can, try to get up like half a goal if we can somewhere in the game," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said.

This game is the first of four in a row on the road for the Kings, where they have a 4-3-0 record. The Sabres are 0-8-1 at home.

"We're starting a long trip [Tuesday], so I think that's more important," Sutter said. "It doesn't matter if we're playing in Greece. We're starting a long trip."

Jonathan Quick was first off for the Kings, setting up a match-up between two top American goaltenders.

As for the rest of the lineups, here's a look at what they may look like:

KINGS

Dustin Brown - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams

Dwight King - Mike Richards - Tyler Toffoli

Daniel Carcillo - Linden Vey - Matt Frattin

Trevor Lewis - Colin Fraser - Jordan Nolan

Jake Muzzin - Drew Doughty

Robyn Regehr - Slava Voynov

Willie Mitchell - Alec Martinez

Jonathan Quick

Ben Scrivens

Injured: Jeff Carter (lower body), Matt Greene (undisclosed), Jarret Stoll (upper body), Kyle Clifford (undisclosed)

SABRES

Matt Moulson - Cody Hodgson - Steve Ott

Zemgus Girgensons - Marcus Foligno - Brian Flynn

Ville Leino - Tyler Ennis - Drew Stafford

Mikhail Grigorenko - Cody McCormick - Corey Tropp

Christian Ehrhoff - Mark Pysyk

Tyler Myers - Henrik Tallinder

Jamie McBain - Rasmus Ristolainen

Ryan Miller

Jhonas Enroth

Scratched: Johan Larsson, Nikita Zadorov, John Scott

Injured: Mike Weber (broken thumb)