Reto Berra will start in goal Tuesday in Philadelphia when the Avalanche open a seven-game road trip that will decide if they have any hope of making a run at a playoff position in the Western Conference.
"This is a big trip for us, we have to make this one count," Matt Duchene said after practice Monday. "We don't want to put ourselves out of it early in the season. That (would be) an absolute nightmare. We have a good enough team to make the playoffs. We're going to take it one game at a time and try to have a successful road trip."
The fact that Berra gets the opening nod tells you all you need to know about Semyon Varlamov's play this season. He just hasn't been very good.
Berra has a 1-3-0 record in five games with one shutout, a 1.85 goals-against average and .943 save percentage. He made 31 saves Friday in the Avalanche's 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers. Varlamov has gone 3-6-1 with a 3.26 average and .890 save percentage.
"Reto will play in Philly, that's all I can say," Roy said. "I haven't made the decision for the next game. I think our mindset should be one game at a time. The position we are (in), we can't look too far ahead and I think we need to focus on the Flyers, and that's what we're going to do.
"We're going to do the same in our decisions. Reto will play and we'll see how he plays and if he plays well, we'll put him back in Boston (on Thursday)."
The Avalanche (4-9-1) are last in the Central Division by eight points and nine points out of the West's second wild card playoff spot.
"We have to win some hockey games," Roy said. "In order to do that we're going to have to continue to play well defensively. Offensively, I think we're going to have to be more relentless, we're going to have to anticipate more and be quicker on pucks, especially on rebounds around the net.
"We have to find something that will make the difference. If we can turn that switch, cut a goal here or make a big play there, score a big goal, goalie makes a big save ... this certainly could turn around our record."
Roy is also changing lines again. These were the combinations at practice Monday:
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene John Mitchell - Carl Soderberg - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - Mikhail Grigorenko - Dennis Everberg Andreas Martinsen - Ben Street - Jack Skille
Blake Comeau was in Kelowna, British Columbia, with his wife, whose father passed away. Roy said Comeau would join the team in Philadelphia.
Roy on the Landeskog-MacKinnon-Duchene line:
"We're going to try that. The reason is they're going to see a lot of ice time and they're young. Against the Rangers, on a back-to-back night, they played 23-24 minutes."
Martinsen was called up Sunday from San Antonio because Alex Tanguay will be out indefinitely with a knee injury and Mitchell has missed three games because of an oblique injury, though he took part in the full practice Monday.
Martinsen, 25, is a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder from Norway. He played the past three seasons in Germany and in the world championships for Norway. Signed as a free agent in May, Martinsen had 18 goals, 23 assists and 99 penalty minutes in 50 games last season with Dusseldorfer. He had one goal, one assist and eight penalty minutes in nine games this year with the Rampage.
The Avalanche assigned defenseman Nikita Zadorov to San Antonio on Saturday.
"He’s only 20 years old," Roy said. "Two years ago, we sent (Tyson) Barrie back to the minors and he came back and played outstanding for us. We think that for him to go and play and get some confidence and be consistent night after night and manage his game a little bit better, (it) will help his game."
For now, the Avalanche are sticking with seven defensemen.