Adam Henrique was a major factor in the New Jersey Devils' victory over the Buffalo Sabres earlier this season.
He's expected to be back in time to make an impact Tuesday night.
Henrique will try to give the Devils a lift as they attempt to bounce back from one of their worst performances of the season against the Sabres.
Henrique is tied with Kyle Palmieri for the team lead with 13 goals, three shy of his total from all of last season.
Perhaps the left wing's best performance of the season came at Buffalo on Oct. 24, scoring two goals and adding an assist in a 4-3 win.
Henrique has 14 points in 14 career matchups and six in the last three with the Sabres.
He may get a chance to build on that after missing two games with a lower-body injury. The Devils (15-11-4) could use the help after falling 4-0 to the New York Islanders in Brooklyn on Sunday.
While New Jersey isn't publicly committing to Henrique's return, he practiced with the team in Buffalo on Monday.
"It'd be nice to have Adam back. He's a really good player for us. He's a real strong competitor," coach John Hynes said. "If he is in the lineup, it's always good to have a player like that, but as a group we need to have a bounce-back effort and it's not just going to be because we have one guy back in the lineup. It's going to have to be a team effort."
Production from Mike Cammalleri would help. The team leader with 30 points has none in three straight games, one shy of his longest drought of the season from Oct. 27-Nov. 3. That came immediately after he had three points at Buffalo (13-15-3).
Cammalleri has three goals and three assists in his last four matchups.
Cory Schneider has a 1.62 goals-against average during a three-start winning streak against the Sabres, making 26 saves Oct. 24.
It's unclear if he'll get a sixth straight start after he allowed three goals on 18 shots and was pulled midway through the second period Sunday. Backup Keith Kinkaid stopped 11 of 12 shots the rest of the way, and he had 28 saves in a 3-1 win at Buffalo in his only career matchup March 20.
"We've seen them earlier this year and they were a dangerous team against us," Schneider said. "They got some guys who can make some plays; some high-end skill and speed guys. We gotta be disciplined and keep them off the power play and make sure we really frustrate them and bottle them up in the neutral zone and not carry that speed into our end."
The Devils are trying to win five straight over the Sabres for the first time since a six-game run spanning two seasons from 1997-98.
Buffalo, however, enters this matchup following 2-1 wins over Los Angeles and Detroit on Saturday and Monday, respectively. The Sabres had a season-high three-game winning streak from Nov. 7-12.
Ryan O'Reilly scored 61 seconds before Johan Larsson's go-ahead tally in the third period against the Red Wings. O'Reilly has four goals and seven assists during a career high-tying eight-game point streak. He had three points against the Devils on Oct. 24, giving him eight in his last six games.
Buffalo rookie Jack Eichel, who scored in his first matchup with the Devils, has been held without a point in four straight games to match his longest drought.
