Tyson Barrie will be back on defense Tuesday night when the Avalanche plays the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy used Barrie as a right wing on the third line the previous two games because he was down to 11 forwards in Winnipeg last Wednesday and he chose to scratch rookie Paul Carey for Friday's game against Boston.
Center John Mitchell remains out with back injury, but Carey will return to the lineup and skate on the fourth line. Fourth-line center Marc-Andre Cliche will move to the third line with Cody McLeod and Max Talbot, the latter of whom was centering that line with McLeod and Barrie.
Roy said he liked Barrie's play as a forward, but Barrie is a natural defenseman and would prefer to stay at the position. He averaged about 18 minutes at right wing, had one assist and a plus-1 plus/minus rating.
"I'm excited," Barrie told Altitude's Marc Moser after the morning skate. "(Playing right wing) was fun, it was a good experience. You jump up and do your best, but it's good to be back on 'D' and get back to where I want to be. I didn't feel too out of place. It was a little weird playing the wing, but I'm happy to be back."
Barrie leads all Avalanche defensemen in goals with nine and his 30 points are four behind Erik Johnson among the team's blue line corps.
The Avalanche is three points behind second-place Chicago in the Central Division with 11 games to go. The Blackhawks have 10 games left, including Tuesday's home game against Dallas, which is one point behind Phoenix in a race for the final wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov will start. He has 34 wins, the fourth-most in franchise history. Roy won a team record 40 games in 2000-01 and 38 in 1996-97. Craig Anderson won 38 games in 2009-10 and Roy 35 in 2002-03.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere will be the backup. Reto Berra spent a good portion of Monday's practice working with goalie coach Francois Allaire.
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Pekka Rinne will start in goal for Nashville. He's coming off a 29-save, 2-0 win against the Blackhawks on Sunday.
The Predators will be without rookie defenseman Seth Jones, who is experiencing concussion-like symptoms and will miss his first game of the season. Jones, 19, took a hard hit against Chicago.
"He got banged up there, so you're always concerned," Predators coach Barry Trotz told The Tennessean. "With him, you're just always going to be very cautious. He's a good young player and has a very good career ahead of him. We'll make sure he's fully healthy. We don't want to put him into any situation that's going to have any effects later."
Jones was the fourth player taken in last year's NHL draft. He has six goals and 18 assists in 72 games but also is tied with Eric Nystrom for the team's worst plus/minus rating at minus-23.
Here's the Avalanche lineup (Berra, Nate Guenin and Ryan Wilson will be scratched):
FORWARDS Ryan O'Reilly - Matt Duchene - Jamie McGinn Gabriel Landeskog - Paul Stastny - Nathan MacKinnon Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Max Talbot Paul Carey - Brad Malone - Patrick Bordeleau
DEFENSE Jan Hejda -- Erik Johnson Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere