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Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick, who has been a forgotten man this season, will play Saturday night against the Florida Panthers at the Pepsi Center, his first NHL game since last year.

Hunwick will play because Andre Benoit sustained a wrist injury Thursday in St. Louis. Coach Patrick Roy said Benoit wanted to play, but the Avalanche medical staff decided it would be better for him to sit out because of some swelling. "It's better not taking a chance," Roy said after the morning skate Saturday.

Hunwick will be paired with Cory Sarich and get time at the point on power plays.

"It's his opportunity," Roy said. "You know what? He works hard. He's a great person, he works hard. I'm glad for him to have a chance to play. Hopefully things will go well for him. That's the depth we think we have on defense. It's good to see him get his chance and hopefully he'll take advantage of it."

Hunwick played in five games for the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League earlier this season and had two assists. Otherwise, he's taken part in practices and done plenty of skating.

The news on right wing Alex Tanguay doesn't sound good. Roy said Tanguay, who hurt his knee Nov. 2 against Montreal, will remain out indefinitely. "It's hard to pinpoint when he's going to come back," Roy said.

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Rookie Nathan MacKinnon will begin Saturday's game at right wing on the line with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny, but Roy said he plans to use him in various ways.

"I might put him back on the third line," he said. "I might try him with (Matt Duchene). I'm going to try a lot of things. If you're eating hot dogs or you're watching somewhere else, you might miss a few things. It's good for him to learn different positions."

Semyon Varlamov will start in goal against the Panthers. Not sure who will be in goal for Florida, but Tim Thomas played Friday in a 3-2 loss in Minnesota, so Scott Clemmensen could get the call.

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Defenseman Jan Hejda said the team has put Thursday's 7-3 loss to the Blues behind. Hejda played 23:15 and was a minus-2, just the second game this season when he didn't post an even or plus plus/minus rating.

"It's going to be a huge game for us," he said of facing the Panthers. "So far we have a great record, so there's no reason to be without confidence. But definitely we have to play better because the last game ... my feeling is we didn't play our game. We have to be physical, but we also have to be smart, and we weren't smart. We lost our focus in that game."

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