The Colorado Avalanche trailed the West Division’s first-place Vegas Golden Knights by just a goal heading into the third period Wednesday.

Within the first minute Nazem Kadri’s shot was blocked, and Vegas converted that into a 2-on-1 the other direction. Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty went in against Devon Toews. Pacioretty was looking at a mostly open net when he beat Devan Dubnyk (21 saves) for the fourth time that night, and the Golden Knights settled in for a 5-2 victory.

The Avalanche are heading home having dropped all three games in regulation since clinching a playoff spot. It’s the first time this season they’ve lost three straight.

“This little stretch we know isn’t going to last,” Toews said. “It’s going to take a little bit more from everyone to get them done.”

It was a game of highs and lows for Toews, who scored the Avalanche’s first goal. He held the puck in, then collected a rebound of a Carl Soderberg shot. It was Toews’ seventh goal of the season and Soderberg’s first point of his second tour with Colorado.

Off the game’s opening faceoff, Alex Pietrangelo sent the puck up the ice and Samuel Girard lost track of it in his own skates. William Karlsson scored the fastest goal to start a game in the Golden Knights’ four seasons of existence 10 seconds in.

“The margin for error is small for us right now so we have to find a way to be better with the puck and more disciplined in a couple different areas,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Can’t fault the guys for their work ethic tonight.”

Pacioretty scored on Vegas’ only power play of the second period from along the boards. The second was one of the Avalanche’s better periods of the past three losses, but they were outscored 2-1.

On the third Golden Knights goal, Chandler Stephenson’s bid was turned aside, but he handed the puck off to Stone so the Vegas captain could keep trying. Dubnyk wiggled back to protect the post, but Stone was able to bank a shot off his back and in.

On the other side, Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury turned in another pivotal performance. His sprawling poke check denied Liam O’Brien as he exited the penalty box. Fleury then stopped Gabriel Landeskog and gloved Kadri’s wide-open attempt.

“Maybe we need to do a better job of making his life tough,” defenseman Ryan Graves said.

Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 15 games with an assist. He hurtled toward the net before passing to Graves, whose long shot beat Fleury (35 saves) through traffic to make it 3-2.

The Avalanche worked for some time with the extra attacker before Jonathan Marchessault scored into Dubnyk’s vacated net.

“If we play a game like that most nights, I feel confident we’ll win more than we lose,” Graves said.