Kings could get Regehr back for regular season finale

Robyn Regehr, who missed the past three games with an undisclosed injury, is expected to draw back into the Kings’ lineup when they host the Anaheim Ducks in the regular season finale tonight at Staples Center.

“I’m ready to roll,” Regehr said after participating in the morning skate. He was paired with Slava Voynov during line rushes.

“I talked to Darryl this morning and I feel like I’m fairly healthy and ready to roll.”

Regehr, who has three goals, 13 points and a plus-eight rating in 78 games this season, acknowledged his desire to get a final regular season game in before next week’s playoff series against the San Jose Sharks opens.

“Yeah, I think so because I haven’t played for roughly a week, and if I wouldn’t play tonight it would be another four or five days. So almost two weeks by then, so I think it’s very important to play the last game,” he said.

Drew Doughty, who has practiced since Monday but has not played since suffering an upper-body injury in the first period of a 2-1 loss in San Jose on April 3, is less likely to play tonight.

Robyn Regehr, on watching the games instead of playing in them:
It’s been difficult. I’m just used to playing. Especially when you’re on the road, there is lots of time in the afternoons and things like that. You’re trying to read or do some things that pass the time. I’d much rather play the game than watch and I’ve always been in that way. It is a good opportunity to look at some of the different things in the game that you might not notice when you’re playing because you’re focused on preparation and things like that. It is an opportunity that you don’t want to waste, either when you sit on the bench or up top or wherever you’re going to watch the game.

Regehr, on whether he takes a pre-game nap before games he isn’t playing in:
Not usually. I’ve just got young kids and I’m used to dealing with them and all the activities and things like that. Normally it’s just on a game day, but when you’re playing.

Regehr, on being scratched the last few games:
I think it was just an opportunity to rest some bumps and bruises. We couldn’t move up or down as a team with our playoff positioning. We really could nothing that affected the opponent we were going to play. So it was a very good opportunity to have a little bit of rest and get as feeling as ready as possible and as good as I can before heading into the last game of the year here and then for the playoffs. It was an opportunity. Talking to the players, I don’t think they’ve really ever had that year. And I never had that too and I think with the way the new playoff format works, it’s been a little bit odd that that’s happened. Because usually you’re battling right to the end, with the last game or two on your positioning, on the seed that you want. Before, like when one played eight, two played seven, and three-six and onward, it came right down the wire all the times. So it was a little bit different this year with the situation that we’re in.

Regehr, on the injury he dealt with through last year’s playoffs:
It wasn’t a great situation. I was on medication for most of the playoffs. It was doing ok for a while, but by the end it was very tough on the body when you’re on some pretty strong stuff. I actually had some problems actually after the season with stomach and needed to go on some probiotics and things like that to try and get some of the good bacteria back in there. It was tough, but there are all kinds of things that go on. Over the years you try to learn to put those things out of your mind as much as possible. But you can only do it to a certain extent. There comes a point where it’s difficult and when it affects your sleeping habits and things like that. Then you start getting tired and you can’t re-energize. It was getting pretty difficult by the end. The infection by the end was really quite severe. It was good that the training staff and doctors did a good job in getting me in right away and taking care of it. It was really nice to have that over and done with, because it’s something that I’d like to not have to ever go through.