James van Riemsdyk nursing injury as Flyers look to bounce back in home opener Tuesday

DENVER  — Two nights after an impressive season-opening win over vaunted Vegas, the Flyers played sloppily in their defensive zone and failed to convert most of their scoring chances Saturday.

They missed a chance to start 2-0 for the first time in seven years, falling to speedy Colorado, 5-2, at the Pepsi Center.

Goalie Brian Elliott's second straight strong performance kept the Flyers in the game, but two late goals — one on the power play, the other an empty-netter — sealed their fate.

They also lost the services of left winger James van Riemsdyk, after he was injured and hobbled off the ice in the first period. A clearing attempt hit van Riemsdyk near his right knee, and the Flyers said they would have a medical update Monday.

Coach Dave Hakstol, whose team plays its home opener Tuesday against Erik Karlsson and San Jose, said he was "concerned," that van Riemsdyk was unable to return to the game, but "I don't know the extent of it."

The hope is that it's just a bad bruise. If it's worse and he is sidelined for a significant amount of time, the offseason optimism created by his return will take a major hit. Van Riemsdyk, who scored 36 goals for Toronto last season, signed a five-year, $35-million deal with the Flyers as a free agent July 1.

The Flyers split a pair of 5-2 decisions to start the season.

"There's a lot of good, a lot to be worked on, and that's to be expected at this time of year," Elliott said. "I thought there were points there [Saturday] where we controlled a lot of the action, but we didn't get anything off of it. I thought we could get to the net a little more."

"We got two of the four points on the road, and for me, this was a game where points were available," Hakstol said after the loss to the Avalanche. "I liked the fact we were cleaner and sharper with the puck [against the Avs] … but there are things we can clean up."

The Flyers came close to tying the score at 3-3 early in the third period, but Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov (35 saves) stopped five shots during a well-executed power play.

"We were really moving it and their goalie stood on his head," defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said.

Earlier, the Flyers had tied the score at 2-2 on Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev's first career goal, a bizarre tally into an empty net after Varlamov collided with teammate Mark Barberio and went sprawling to the ice.

But the Avs regained the lead on a controversial goal scored by Gabriel Landeskog with 12 minutes, 42 seconds left in the second period.

Landeskog got position on defenseman Travis Sanheim and redirected Nathan MacKinnon's soft shot past Elliott. Hakstol challenged the goal, claiming goaltender interference. But the Situation Room in Toronto ruled Sanheim pushed Landeskog into Elliott. The goal, which turned out to be the game-winner, stood.

"That's another one of the rules I really don't understand," Elliott said after the loss. "… He's in my crease; he impedes my arm coming across, and that is interference, I thought, in the rule book."

Hakstol said he wouldn't have challenged the call "unless I was sure it was goalie interference." Based on calls in recent years, he admitted, he was confused as to "what is and what isn't goalie interference."

Hakstol made one lineup change from the opening-night 5-2 win in Vegas, replacing defenseman Radko Gudas with Christian Folin. The move backfired as Folin struggled and one of his turnovers led to a Colorado goal.

Look for Gudas to return to the lineup Tuesday.

Sean Couturier, 25, who scored a goal, became the youngest player in Flyers history to play in his 500^th game with the team. Vorobyev, 21, on his first career goal: "I've thought about this for many years — scoring my first goal in the NHL. It was amazing." … The Flyers missed a chance to start a season 2-0 with road wins against Western Conference teams for the first time in their history.