Tyutin Practices, Questionable For Tuesday

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--The Colorado Avalanche will be without defenseman Tyson Barrie and forward Rene Bourque on Tuesday as the club takes on the visiting Montreal Canadiens at Pepsi Center, head coach Jared Bednar revealed following practice on Monday.
Barrie, who is nursing a lower-body injury, skated on his own prior to Colorado's on-ice group work, but he still isn't ready to return to action. The 25-year-old rear guard last played in the team's back-to-back set in California, but he has been unavailable since then.
Bourque, who left Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings in the first period after taking a high hit from blueliner Brayden McNabb, is progressing, according to Bednar.

However, the Avs could have the option to field Russian defenseman Fedor Tyutin for the first time since Tuesday, as the veteran has returned to practice.

"Tyutin will be questionable for tomorrow," Bednar said before discussing a possible defensive scratch. "We'll make a decision on that after we see if he's going to be able to go."
The 33-year-old rear guard participated in his first full practice since being sidelined with a groin ailment and, aside from some minor conditioning, believes he's ready to go should he be beckoned.
"I'm feeling good. I mean injury wise, I feel pretty healed up and ready to go," Tyutin said on Monday. "Obviously, a little behind physically--behind the guys--but it's alright. Take a day or two, I'll be back."
Tyutin has missed six games between two different bouts with an injured groin, but he doesn't believe his situation is similar to that of goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who recently underwent season-ending hip surgery to correct a recurring groin problem.

"No, I don't. In this kind of business, I've said it before, you got to stay positive," Tyutin said. "So I always try to evaluate myself and think about good things."
Although he didn't take part in the Avalanche's 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Tyutin admitted that the victory was one of the team's better performances of the year.
"That was awesome. That was pretty much a complete game by the guys," he said. "[Calvin Pickard] played outstanding in the net. We're going to try to follow up that tomorrow."
Repeating the defensive aspect of Saturday's win isn't complicated to the blueliner.
"It's simple. We got to play good defense," said Tyutin. "Everybody knows how to play, we just got to play… smarter with our puck decisions and things like that."
According to Bednar, Pickard will get the start in goal.
The game starts at 7 p.m. MT and tickets are still available.