The Avalanche were back on the ice Saturday following a four-day break for Christmas, and coach Patrick Roy has reconfigured the top two lines for Sunday's game with Arizona.
John Mitchell will center a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, and Nathan MacKinnon will skate with Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla.
"We need to get some scoring from our top line," Roy said. "The second, third and fourth lines started scoring more, but now it's our first line that doesn't score as much."
The Avalanche also called up goalie Calvin Pickard from San Antonio of the AHL because Reto Berra is expected to be sidelined for about 10 days with the ankle injury he sustained while knocking a soccer ball around in the Pepsi Center hallway before last Monday's game with Toronto.
Roy said Semyon Varlamov will start Sunday against Arizona and Pickard will go Monday in San Jose. Defenseman Nate Guenin sustained a head injury against the Maple Leafs and won't play against the Coyotes, though he practiced Saturday and Roy said he's recovered. Brandon Gormley, a healthy scratch the past four games, will play Sunday.
Defenseman Brad Stuart (back injury) practiced while wearing a non-contact jersey. He last played Nov. 10 in Philadelphia.
"He stayed a bit after to do some extra (work)," Roy said. 'We'll see how he does (Sunday) morning, but I think it's positive."
Asked if there is anything positive to report about Jesse Winchester (concussion), Roy responded: "I almost said, 'Who?' No, nothing."
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Duchene has gone three games without a point and has a goal and an assist in the past six games. Iginla has a two-game scoring streak with a goal and an assist after going nine games without a point. MacKinnon has six assists and no goals in the past 13 games. Tanguay has four assists and no goals in 10 games.
"You have to get a little jolt every now and then, that's what Patty's trying to do, get a little more offense out of our team as a whole," Duchene said. "Things come and go and you mix things up, you try things out. We have a lot of good options, a lot of good players on this team that can play together. We haven't been scoring as much probably as we'd like to, so (Roy) is trying to find more consistency."
Duchene will remain at right wing, which is where he was with Landeskog and MacKinnon, though he'll continue to take some faceoffs with Mitchell.
"Wherever he puts me, he puts me," Duchene said. "I think everyone kind of feels that way. When the time comes to go back to center, I know how to play that and we'll go from there."
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Pickard was home in Winnipeg when he got the call to come to Denver. He arrived Christmas night.
"I'm excited to be back," he said. "I had three days at home and it was nice to visit with family and friends."
Pickard has a 9-8-0 record for the Rampage with a 2.75 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. San Antonio is 13-10-6-0 and in third place in the Pacific Division, three points behind first-place Ontario (Calif.).
"It was a really good start and we started to slide a little bit the last month or so, losing a lot of one-goal games," Pickard said. "We had two wins right before the break. We've had some injury trouble, but we have a good group down there and it's going to be fun to see how they do.
"I want to work hard in practices and when I get my chance just to give my team a chance to win every night. Day by day, just taking care of myself and being ready when I'm called upon."
The Rampage summoned goalie Spencer Martin from the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL.