BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres will mix things up on the blue line as they prepare for their home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
Defensemen TJ Brennan and Mike Weber will replace Robyn Regehr and Alexander Sulzer in the lineup. Regehr will miss the game with what Sabres coach Lindy Ruff called an "undisclosed lower-body injury" while Sulzer will be a healthy scratch. Ruff expects Regehr will be out only in the short term.
Brennan and Weber have been healthy scratches through Buffalo’s first five games.
"You want guys that are chomping at the bit to play," Ruff said. "They're excited to play and full of energy. We'll tone them down from there."
The Sabres will have leading scorer Thomas Vanek back in the lineup after he missed Buffalo's game on Sunday against the Washington Capitals with a muscle strain. Buffalo also announced on Tuesday that 18-year-old center Mikhail Grigorenko will stay with the club for the remainder of the season.
On the Maple Leafs side, defenseman Mike Komisarek will miss the game with an eye injury. Coach Randy Carlyle said Komisarek received a suture in his eye at a visit to the doctor Monday.
“Komisarek, at the end of practice [Monday] experienced a little fibreglass chip in the eye,” Carlyle said after Tuesday's morning practice.
Komisarek visited the doctor again Tuesday and though he was cleared to play, the Maple Leafs coaching staff decided to shut him down for the night as a precautionary measure.
Carlyle was vague about how Komisarek injured his eye.
"It was one of those things that you'd like to take back in your life, I think, when you do something stupid," Carlyle said. "It was crazy."
Jake Gardiner could play for Toronto on Tuesday, but Carlyle said he feels no pressure to put the defenseman in the lineup. Gardiner injured his head and neck in a game on Dec. 8 while with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. He returned to the Maple Leafs lineup on Jan. 23 after missing the first two games of the NHL season.
"There's a need to get him back on track, but I don't think there's any pressure on us to play Jake Gardiner in any of the situations we're presented with right now. It's a coach's decision whether he plays or doesn't play," Carlyle said.
Forward Clarke MacArthur did not partake in the morning skate and is "very doubtful" for the game, according to Carlyle.
James Reimer will start in goal for the Maple Leafs, and Ryan Miller will start for the Sabres.
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