"He has played well for us, he was sitting for quite some time. I liked the way he played early in the year," head coach Jared Bednar said of Barberio. "He comes in in Minny and plays a real solid game for us at both ends of the rink, I loved his game there. Wasn't quite as good the next night, and he ends up sitting again.
"It's just the nature of where we are at. We have seven NHL D-men and we have some guys that we lean on real heavily. We are going to need all seven of those guys as the year goes on. He has played well. He has practiced hard, he looks sharp so we want to get him back in."
He will likely play with Nikita Zadorov as the top four haven't been mixed up for most of the year.
Bednar said the forward trios against the Bruins will be the same as in Colorado's last outing, a 4-1 win at the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will start in net for the Avs, while defenseman Patrik Nemeth and forward Marko Dano will be the healthy scratches.
Below is the Avalanche's projected lineup. All forward combinations and defensive pairings are subject to change.
