Foligno promoted as Sabres shuffle lines

BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres are shuffling lines for their matchup against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.

Interim coach Ted Nolan is breaking up his top line of Matt Moulson, Cody Hodgson and Drew Stafford, and spreading them out over three lines. Marcus Foligno is getting the biggest promotion, going from the fourth line to the second to join Stafford and team captain Steve Ott.

"It's huge for me," Foligno said. "I think I was set back because Ted wanted to show how I have to play. Fourth line, third line, second line, first line -- doesn’t matter. You have to bring your game every night. You're on a scoring line but it doesn't mean you're going to score every night. … This is going to be a big game tonight for myself to know that I can play there."

Forward Ville Leino, who had been centering the second line, will be scratched against the Senators in favor of John Scott.

"Certain players with a certain skill set, they have to bring it," Nolan said. "If you're not going to play as well as you can, sometimes it's better off to sit and look and observe for a while. Hopefully when he gets back in he'll play the way he's capable of playing."

Defenseman Brayden McNabb will rejoin the lineup and likely replace Mike Weber. Ryan Miller was the first goalie off at the morning skate and will start.

The Senators won't be changing their lineup after their 5-4 shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night. Coach Paul MacLean will keep his new line of Clarke MacArthur, Jason Spezza and Bobby Ryan together after they had success against the Flyers.

"We've been known to keep it the same and change it back," MacLean said. "At this point we'll see how it goes. Right now we're going to start this game the way we finished last night and see how it goes."

Robin Lehner will start in goal for the Senators after Craig Anderson earned the win against the Flyers on Monday.

As for the lineups, here's how they may look.

SABRES

Matt Moulson – Tyler Ennis – Zemgus Girgensons

Marcus Foligno – Steve Ott – Drew Stafford

Luke Adam – Cody Hodgson – Matt D'Agostini

John Scott – Cody McCormick – Brian Flynn

Tyler Myers – Henrik Tallinder

Christian Ehrhoff – Jamie McBain

Brayden McNabb – Mark Pysyk

Ryan Miller

Jhonas Enroth

Scratched: Ville Leino, Mike Weber

Injured: Alexander Sulzer (undisclosed)

SENATORS

Clarke MacArthur – Jason Spezza – Bobby Ryan

Milan Michalek – Kyle Turris – Erik Condra

Matt Kassian – Mika Zibanejad – Cory Conacher

Colin Greening – Zack Smith – Chris Neil

Marc Methot – Erik Karlsson

Chris Phillips – Joe Corvo

Jared Cowen – Patrick Wiercioch

Robin Lehner

Craig Anderson

Scratched: Eric Gryba, Mike Hoffman

Injured: None