The Avalanche will do some line juggling for tonight's game against Ottawa at the Pepsi Center because Ryan O'Reilly will sit out with the left shoulder injury he sustained Monday in the 4-3 loss to Calgary.
John Mitchell will take O'Reilly's spot at right wing with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny, and rookie Nathan MacKinnon will move to left wing with Matt Duchene and Jamie McGinn.
Marc-Andre Cliche will move from the fourth line to the third and skate between Cody McLeod and Max Talbot. Brad Malone will center the fourth line with David Van Der Gulik, who was recalled from Lake Erie in the AHL, and Patrick Bordeleau.
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MacKinnon didn't practice Tuesday after getting hit on the ankle with a puck in Monday's game, but he said he's fine for tonight.
"It stung a little bit, but I'll be all right," he said. "Hockey players are tough. But I'm all good. It was just a day I had to get it healed up and I'm good to go."
MacKinnon has been on a tear with four goals in the past two games, and eight goals and two assists in the past 11. He's leading all NHL rookies in scoring with 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in 42 games.
"The only reason I know that is people tweet me," he said. "It's been going a little better. The homestand has been pretty solid. For us, we have to bear down. We needed those two points against Calgary and we're going to have to make up for it against Ottawa and later in the homestand (Friday against the New York Islanders)."
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The Avalanche is 3-1-1 in the first five games of its seven-game homestand and coming off that disappointing loss to the Flames.
"You always want to bounce back from a game like we played against Calgary," coach Patrick Roy said. "It will be important for us to finish the homestand on the right foot. We want to play well tonight, there's no doubt about it. We're playing a team that won their last four games and they're coming here with a lot of confidence."
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Right wing Alex Tanguay took part in the morning skate, the third day in a row he has skated. Tanguay has been sidelined since sustaining knee and hip injuries Nov. 2 against the Montreal Canadiens.
"He looked good," Roy said. "Things are going well for him. We're behind him on this and the only thing we can do is support our players. Alex seems comfortable right now."
Tanguay remains on injured reserve and is out indefinitely.
Defenseman Nate Guenin will miss his second game in a row because of an ankle injury.
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Semyon Varlamov, who on Tuesday was named to Russia's Olympic team, will start in goal for the Avalanche. He's 6-0-4 in his past 11 games with a 2.14 goals-against average and .936 save percentage. He's winless in three career games against the Senators (0-2-1) with a 4.02 goals-against average and .864 save percentage
Former Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson will start for the Senators. He's allowed a total of 10 goals in a personal five-game winning streak but is winless in two career games against Colorado (0-2-0) with a 7.91 goals-against average and .803 save percentage.
"I had some good memories here," he said. "This was the first organization that gave me a shot to be a No. 1. This building, these fans and the organization means a lot to me, but things change and you move on and now we've got to beat them. We're definitely looking forward to this game. We've been playing well of late, we've won some games and we want to make sure that we keep that going."
The Senators have outscored teams 15-10 during a four-game winning streak and will get captain Jason Spezza back. He's missed four games with a hip flexor injury.
Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Nathan MacKinnon -- Matt Duchene -- Jamie McGinn Gabriel Landeskog -- Paul Stastny -- John Mitchell Cody McLeod -- Marc-Andre Cliche -- Max Talbot David Van Der Gulik -- Brad Malone -- Patrick Bordeleau
DEFENSE Erik Johnson -- Jan Hejda Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich Nick Holden -- Tyson Barrie
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere