ST. LOUIS — The Avalanche's Tyson Barrie, a high-risk, high-reward offensive defenseman, played a season-low 16 minutes, 26 seconds in Monday's 4-3 victory at Nashville. The 24-year-old wasn't in the doghouse and finished with a plus-2 rating. But the Avs had just one power play, and Barrie is becoming more of an offensive specialist.
The plan is to give 2013 draft picks Chris Bigras, 21, and Nikita Zadorov, 20, more playing time, and they partnered with veterans Erik Johnson and Francois Beauchemin, respectively, in the top-two pairings against the Predators. The same pairings were used Tuesday against the Blues in St.