As he does so well, Patrick Roy is stirring the pot.

The Avalanche coach made two Thanksgiving promotions Thursday, moving gritty left wing and assistant captain Cody McLeod to the first line and lifting fellow tough guy Patrick Bordeleau up to the third line.

In Friday’s game at Minnesota that begins a back-to-back, two-city series between the Avalanche and Wild, McLeod will play on the Matt Duchene-centered line with right wing Ryan O’Reilly. Bordeleau will play alongside center John Mitchell and right wing Max Talbot.

Center Paul Stastny will miss his second consecutive game because of back spasms, but he might return in Saturday’s rematch in Denver.

Roy wants to reward McLeod and Bordeleau — both began the season on the fourth line — and give Jamie McGinn a kick in the rear. Roy is not happy with McGinn, who has only four goals and eight points in 20 games.

“I expect more from him,” Roy said. “Jamie needs to be better offensively, play with more grit in front of the net. He needs to be more physical. He needs to be better defensively.”

McGinn will play on the fourth line with Brad Malone and Marc-Andre Cliche. The second line of center Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog and P.A. Parenteau remains unchanged.

The 6-foot-6 Bordeleau, a heavyweight enforcer, leads the NHL in shooting (50 percent) among those who have played more than 11 games. He has three goals on six shots in 23 games. He scored the Avs’ goal in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues.

“He was our best player (Wednesday) and has been skating well, being physical, doing everything we’ve asked and has scored three goals in a short period,” Roy said of Bordeleau.

“Bordy” joked about his promotion after practice. “Feels like any other day. I still feel like a plug,” he said, before adding “it feels good. It’s nice.”

McLeod is no stranger to a scoring line. Last season, he finished up with O’Reilly and Landeskog.

Duchene, who returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing three games with an oblique injury, skated with little pain at practice Thursday and says he’s fine.

Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikechambers

COLORADO AT MINNESOTA

4 p.m. Friday, ALT; 950 AM

Spotlight on Jason Zucker: The former University of Denver left wing was recalled by the Wild on Thursday and likely will play against the Avs in his 31st career NHL game. Zucker, who would have been a senior at DU if he had not signed with the Wild after his sophomore season in 2012, scored twice Wednesday as the Iowa Wild earned an 3-1 American Hockey League win at the Chicago Wolves.

NOTEBOOK

Avalanche: Jean-Sebastien Giguere is scheduled to start in goal, and Semyon Varlamov is pegged to play in Saturday’s rematch against the Wild at the Pepsi Center. … The Avs had dinner Thursday on the team charter en route to the Twin Cities, but had most of the afternoon following practice to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. … This is the first of five Central Division games against the Wild this season.

Wild: Zach Parise, the team’s leading scorer with 22 points, is questionable because of a bruised foot. He did not play in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes in St. Paul, Minn., but participated in the morning skate. … Forward Mikael Granlund suffered a concussion against the Coyotes and was placed on injured reserve. … Goalie Niklas Backstrom is 24-5-3 against Colorado, with a 2.22 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.

Mike Chambers, The Denver Post