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Bryan Little will be back in his usual position between Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler when the Winnipeg Jets take on the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night at the First Niagara Center.

Little has been out with a bone bruise on the bottom of his foot since getting hit with a shot on Dec. 17.

The centre has 11 goals and 20 points in 32 games this season and really clicked with Kane and Wheeler in the weeks leading up to his injury.

“I felt like I was better each day this week,” Little said. “Before, I really didn’t feel comfortable skating, I couldn’t turn much and it seems like it has come a long way in a week.”

Jets coach Claude Noel hopes Little’s presence will provide the team with a much-needed offensive boost.

“Bryan’s a good player for us and he had really good success on the line with Wheeler and Kane,” Noel said. “When he came out, he was in a really good place and so was the line and he was turning out to be the dynamic player we thought he would be.”

All of the Jets lines will look different Saturday as the team tries to rebound from back-to-back beatdowns in Montreal and Toronto earlier this week.

Centres Alex Burmistrov and Tim Stapleton are scratches. Stapleton has the flu and Burmistrov has what coach Claude Noel described as a “mid-level injury.”

Going into the lineup along with Little is centre/left-winger Patrice Cormier, who was called up from St. John’s earlier in the week. He will be on a line with Kyle Wellwood and Antti Miettinen.

Right-winger Eric Fehr, who has been getting mostly fourth-line minutes and hasn’t scored yet this season, moves up to take the right-wing position on the second line with Nik Antropov and captain Andrew Ladd.

“It’s definitely a positive,” Fehr said. “I’m excited to get some more minutes and play against their two really good players (Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville). I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Fehr has looked better in recent games and generated a few scoring chances while playing with Burmistrov and Chris Thorburn in Toronto.

“You just feel like you’re knocking on the door,” Fehr said. “It’s a good feeling going into the game knowing that your timing is a little better and you’re creating chances and there are going to be opportunities.”

Noel said Fehr’s play has improved lately but this was more just a byproduct of the fact it was time to juggle the lines.

“It wasn’t a merit thing,” Noel said. “He just fits good there, he’s a good player, he’s been playing better. He’s doing his best and he’s had a couple of good games so let’s get him going.”

The Jets hoped they would have defenceman Dustin Byfuglien on this road trip, but plans to have him meet the team in Boston have been scrapped.

“He’s still a ways away,” Noel said.

The Jets will face a Sabres squad that is three points behind them in the Eastern Conference standings. The Sabres (18-18-4) lost 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes Friday night in Raleigh, N.C.

Buffalo beat Winnipeg 6-5 in overtime at the First Niagara Center in the only other meeting of the season between the two teams.

The Jets enter the game with a 19-16-5 record and sit 10th in the Eastern Conference, two points back of eighth-place Toronto.