DENVER _ The Flyers have never started a season by winning their first two games on the road with both victories against Western Conference teams.
They were denied that accomplishment Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado took advantage of defensive miscues and defeated the Flyers, 5-2, as goalie Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves and Colin Wilson scored a pair of goals.
Wilson iced the win by scoring on the power play with 3 minutes, 39 seconds left, putting the Avalanche ahead, 4-2. Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-net score.
The Flyers were trying to win their first two games of a season for the first time since 2011-12.
Making matters worse, they lost the services of left winger James van Riemsdyk, the team's marque free-agent signing in July, after he was hit near his right knee by a first-period clearing attempt and hobbled off the ice. He will be re-evaluated when the team returns home Monday.
With van Riemsdyk sidelined, the Flyers' four lines were scrambled the rest of the night, including his unit with Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev and Wayne Simmonds.
Vorobyev's first NHL career goal can be described in one word: bizarre. Fact is, you can watch a couple thousand NHL games and not see a similar score.
In an innocent-looking play early in the second period, Colorado defenseman Mark Barberio skated down ice after a loose puck and, at the side of the net, lost an edge and collided with Varlamov, sending him sprawling to the ice and the net wide open. An icing seemed in order until Varlamov touched the puck, then was wiped out by his teammate.
Vorobyev picked up the loose puck and tucked it into the empty net, knotting the score at 2-2 with 18 minutes left in the second.
A little over five minutes later, the Avs regained the lead, at 3-2, as Gabriel Landeskog tipped in MacKinnon's soft wrist shot while the teams were playing four-on-four. Landeskog got position on defenseman Travis Sanheim and tipped it home. The Flyers challenged for goaltender interference on Landeskog, but the goal stood with 12:42 to go in the second.
About three minutes later, Brian Elliott kept the deficit at 3-2. Somehow.
Late in a power play, Wilson broke through the defense and was in alone on Elliott. At the last second, he tapped a pass to Alexander Kerfoot on his left. Kerfoot appeared to have a tap-in into an empty net, but Elliott slid over and made his best save of the night.
In his first three seasons, coach Dave Hakstol usually stayed with the same lineup after an impressive win. He made a surprising change Saturday, however, when he replaced defenseman Radko Gudas with Christian Folin. Gudas, paired with Sanheim, played well in the Flyers's 5-2 win in Las Vegas on Thursday.
Hakstol said Folin, signed as a free agent in the offseason after playing in Los Angeles, had earned a start because of a solid preseason.
But Folin struggled in his Flyers debut, and his turnover led to J.T. Compher's goal that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with 7:02 remaining in the opening period. Compher scored on a one-timer from the left circle.
The Avs had taken a 1-0 lead just 1:35 into the game. Taking advantage of a two-on-one down low, Wilson scored on a backhanded rebound.
Just like they did in the win in Las Vegas, the Flyers started slowly and then regrouped. Sean Couturier, playing in his 500th career game, scored the equalizer on a rebound after Varlamov had stopped Travis Konecny on a breakaway with 12:30 left in the first.
"T.K. did a good job of reading the play and taking off," said Couturier, who missed most of the preseason because of a knee injury. "... I just tried to be there for the second opportunity."
Defensive breakdowns throughout the first period helped Colorado get 14 shots, many of them Grade A chances. They also had 28 shots in the second period as the Flyers' sloppy play continued.
Elliott kept the Flyers close in the first 40 minutes, and with 11 seconds left in the second, Varlamov made his best stop of the game _ a great glove save on Sanheim's point-blank drive to keep the Avalanche ahead, 3-2.
The Flyers return from their two-game trip to face talented San Jose in their home opener Tuesday.
