Dan Vladar's injury overshadows preseason loss to Bruins

The Philadelphia Flyers suffered a 5-1 preseason loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, but the final score was hardly the biggest concern coming out of TD Garden.

The Flyers watched their starting goaltender Dan Vladar leave the game in the first period with an upper-body injury, creating an unwanted question mark just days before the start of the regular season.

Vladar was making his preseason debut after establishing himself as Philadelphia’s starting goaltender last season. He stopped six shots before leaving 13:31 into the game after appearing to injure his right arm during a sequence around the crease with a Bruins player. He immediately gave up his stick and appeared to be holding his arm before leaving the ice.

The Flyers replaced Vladar with Aleksei Kolosov, who finished the game in relief. Kolosov stopped 14 of 18 shots as Boston eventually pulled away for the 5-1 victory. Jacob Gaucher scored Philadelphia’s lone goal.

The Flyers are counting on Vladar to be their No. 1 goaltender after he posted a 29-14-7 record, a 2.42 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage last season. He also was given a  five-year, $27.5 million contract extension this summer.

For now, the Flyers do not have a definitive timeline for Vladar's return. Head coach Rick Tocchet said after the game that Vladar was being evaluated and that there was no immediate update on the injury.

Philadelphia is back in action on Thursday for another preseason clash with Boston. 

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