The Vegas Golden Knights struggled to get going on Sunday, allowing the Kings to score three straight goals in the first 22 minutes of the game.

The Golden Knights came back to make it a one-goal game in the third period, powered by a hat trick by Tomas Hertl, but it was too little too late in a 6-5 loss at T-Mobile Arena.

“They’re (Kings) a good hockey team, and we didn’t compete at all in the first period,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s my job to get the guys ready, but they’ve (Golden Knights) got to go and compete.”

The Golden Knights were outshot 16-7 in the first period and struggled to get their offense going.

While the Kings were aggressive in the neutral zone, Cassidy said he didn’t see them do much differently than the last time Vegas played them. That’s when the Golden Knights took a 2-1 lead into the third period before giving up four straight goals in a 5-2 loss on Feb. 24.

“If we had just played an average game with the puck, we would’ve probably been fine,” Cassidy said. “They (Kings) get the credit for forcing us into mistakes, but it looked like a lot of them were more unforced errors than them pressuring us all night.”

Vegas is taking away something good from the game in that it was able to give itself a chance at the end.

A fight between Nicholas Hague and Samuel Helenius sparked the Golden Knights, seeing Nicolas Roy score not long after to get Vegas on the board.

Hertl scored his first of the game in the second period to cut the lead to a goal, but the Kings tacked on two more goals late in the second and early on in the third.

Vegas had the scoring edge in the third period, 3-2, but Adrian Kempe’s power-play goal allowed the Kings to hold off the comeback.

“It was great to fight back, and we have to learn from it, but…the start wasn’t there, and we have to be ready,” Hertl said. “We have 19 games left. It’s coming pretty fast, and we can lose that.”

The Golden Knights have won seven of their last nine, with both losses coming against the Kings. Vegas still has a four-point edge over the Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division but has a chance of facing Los Angeles in the playoffs.

The Kings are seven points behind the Golden Knights in third place.

Depending on how things go over this last month and a half of the season, if Edmonton leapfrogs Vegas to the top spot in the Pacific, the Golden Knights will likely face the Kings in the first round.

This is a critical stretch for the Golden Knights, who are going on a four-game road trip. It’s the longest Vegas will be away from home in a month. 

Vegas understands that it did not play to its identity in the first period, and correcting that sooner rather than later is critical.

“In this league, starts are really important, so we’re gonna have to correct that,” Roy said.