Semyon Varlamov will be back in goal Friday when the Avalanche play Winnipeg at the Pepsi Center.
Varlamov made 20 saves Oct. 28 in a 1-0 loss to the Jets and goalie Michael Hutchinson, who stopped 37 shots.
Varlamov has allowed 20 goals in a five-game losing streak, with five goals three times in this stretch. He gave up five goals on 25 shots and was replaced by Calvin Pickard to start the third period Sunday in the Avalanche's 5-1 loss in St. Louis. He's permitted five goals in four of his eight starts and has a 2-6-0 record with one shutout, a 3.67 goals-against average and .881 save percentage.
Pickard made 21 saves Tuesday in the Avalanche's 4-2 loss to Arizona, his first defeat in four decisions. He has one shutout with a 2.08 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
"Both guys, if I look for the battle for the net, we've played better games in front of Pick than we have for Varly," coach Jared Bednar said after practice Thursday. "Varly's played real good first periods and now we need him to sustain his game through the course of 60 minutes or 65 minutes plus.
"We have an obligation as a team to play well in front of him as well. You saw a little bit last game we left Pick hung out to dry on a few of the plays and we end up losing the game. We didn't give up a bunch of scoring chances, but we gave up way too many odd-man rushes. We broke some of them up and we miscued on some, but the scoring chances we gave up, there were too many quality chances.
"When we clean that up, it doesn't matter who's in net. If we clean that up, we give ourselves a chance to win."
The Avalanche (5-7-0) have lost four of their past five games and seven of the past 10.
Rene Bourque replaced Jarome Iginla on the second line with Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg in practice. Iginla will be with Joe Colborne and Mikhail Grigorenko. Blake Comeau (groin injury) didn't practice and will miss his third game.
"I just like what (Bourque) has been doing," Bednar said. "I liked his last game. He's a physical guy, he's bringing a physical presence to our forward group, which we need a little bit more of, and he's skating hard, he's tracking the puck hard, he's getting to the front of the net. He probably had one of our best all-around games the other night, so I want to give him a chance to earn some more minutes." Bourque scored a power-play goal Tuesday and had three shots in 14:19 of playing time. He has two goals and one assist in 10 games while averaging 14:08.
Iginla has two goals in 12 games while averaging 15:11.