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Avalanche center Paul Stastny will be in the lineup tonight in Nashville after missing two games with a leg injury.

Stastny will skate on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon, with MacKinnon going back to right wing. John Mitchell will move back to center on the third line.

"He's an important player on our team," coach Patrick Roy told reporters. "Before his injury he was playing really good with Landy and Nathan. It's good to have him back. At the same time it gave opportunity to other guys to do well."

Stastny had three goals and nine assists in 10 games before getting hurt last Saturday in Minnesota. He's the Avalanche's third-leading scorer with 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists).

"We're fortunate that we're winning and I'm getting back," Stastny said. "The next couple of games we have a couple of other guys getting back, so I think we're finally getting fully healthy and I think it's going to be an extra push for us."

Right wing PA Parenteau is targeting Tuesday against Toronto for his return from a sprained knee.

The Avalanche will be able to dress 12 forwards and six defensemen for the first time since last Saturday in Minnesota.

The Avalanche has won three games in a row and has gone 7-1-2 in the past 10 games. Colorado is 2-1-2 in the past five road games.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov will make his sixth consecutive start for the Avalanche. He's allowed 10 goals while going 4-0-1 in the past five games and is 10-0-5 in his past 15 decisions since a 3-1 loss to Phoenix on Dec. 10. Varlamov has a 4-3-0 career record against the Predators with one shutout, a 2.83 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.

Goalie Devan Dubnyk, who was acquired Wednesday from Edmonton in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks, will make his first start for Nashville. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Dubnyk has an 8-4-1 career record against the Avalanche with one shutout, a 2.03 goals-against average and .941 save percentage.

Rookie defenseman Seth Jones has four goals, 14 assists and a minus-16 plus/minus rating with the Predators.

The Avalanche has gone 0-6-1 at Nashville since a 2-1 win Jan. 6, 2009.

Here's the Avalanche lineup for tonight:

FORWARDS
Ryan O'Reilly -- Matt Duchene -- Jamie McGinn
Gabriel Landeskog -- Paul Stastny -- Nathan MacKinnon
Cody McLeod -- John Mitchell -- Max Talbot
Brad Malone -- Marc-Andre Cliche -- Patrick Bordeleau

DEFENSE
Erik Johnson -- Jan Hejda
Andre Benoit -- Nick Holden
Ryan Wilson -- Tyson Barrie

GOALIES
Semyon Varlamov
Jean-Sebastien Giguere

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