The Vegas Golden Knights (25-16-14) lost their fifth consecutive game when they fell 4-3 to the Anaheim Ducks (29-23-3) Sunday night at Honda Center.

Once again, the Golden Knights were forced to chase but were unable to play catch-up. Anaheim took a 3-0 lead less than five minutes into the second period, and though Vegas scored twice to make it a one-goal game in the third, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.

The Golden Knights have lost seven of their last eight games, going 1-5-2 in that stretch.

Chris Kreider scored the first two goals of the game, including the lone goal of the opening frame.

He made it a two-goal game just 70 seconds into the middle frame, which was a rough one for the Golden Knights.

Anaheim extended its lead to 3-0 on a power-play goal by Cutter Gauthier at 4:32.

Vegas seemed to wake up after Gautheir’s power-play strike, and for the third game in a row, the Golden Knights got goals from Mitch Marner and Ivan Barbashev.

Marner tallied his 15th of the season at 9:47 to get Vegas on the board. The Golden Knights got the puck to the front of the net, and Marner got the benefit of a great bounce before burying his chance in the empty net.

The Golden Knights didn’t generate much else, however.

But as has been the case during their recent struggles, Vegas came alive in the third period, outshooting Anaheim 19-7.

Barbashev scored just past the midway mark of the period to make it a 3-2 contest. Jack Eichel made the pass from the boards, and Barbashev scored on the rebound.

But much like Saturday’s game against the Kraken, the Golden Knights couldn’t find the next goal to reset the score. Instead, the Ducks scored on the empty net at 18:53 to restore their two-goal lead.

Tomas Hertl potted his 22nd of the season with six seconds left in the third period, but it was an inconsequential detail in yet another loss for the Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights have been repeating similar patterns throughout this recent rough stretch and over the course of the season as a whole. This was one more example of the Golden Knights getting off to a slow start, falling into a multi-goal deficit, rallying to make things interesting with a dominant third-period effort but, in the end, falling short.

“It seems like over the past little bit, we’ve been chasing way too much, and we’ve been trying to rely on our comebacks,” Shea Theodore said. “It’s not good enough. We have to start better, and we have to really hang on to that driving play that we have sometimes.”

Chasing games is not sustainable, but the Golden Knights have made it a nightly ritual.

“Definitely not the start we wanted,” Alexander Holtz said. “We talked a lot about coming out hot, so yeah, it’s tough when you’re a couple goals behind and you need to chase all the time. It’s something we need to figure out for the next upcoming games.”

The two games in this back-to-back set — both regulation losses — were very similar. Too similar.

In other words, it was nothing new for the slumping Golden Knights.

That being said, the Golden Knights’ lead in the division has all but vanished. Vegas and Edmonton are tied with 64 points, though the Golden Knights have a game in hand. Seattle has a game in hand and trails by three points, while Anaheim is now just three points back. Plus, the Kings are not far behind with 60 points and a game in hand.

Depth has been one of the factors contributing to that slide, as the Golden Knights are missing many important players. The goaltending also has been insufficient this season. Adin Hill is not looking like the Hill of the past, and though Akira Schmid and Carl Lindbom have performed admirably given their roles on the depth chart, they’re still finishing almost every game with a save percentage below .900.

“I thought we defended really well in the interior of the ice in terms of what we gave up,” Bruce Cassidy said, “and three [goals] still managed to get into the net. So that seems to be a bit of our challenge right now. It’s always three against. We need four goals a night to get points, and tonight we were one short.”

The Golden Knights didn’t play for 60 minutes, and they lost both net-front battles in the first two periods, with Kreider’s two goals serving as proof. However, Gauthier’s power-play marker was on Hill, who finished the game with an .864 save percentage.

“They got a power-play goal that, in hindsight, is the one that hurt us,” Cassidy said. “It should have never gone in the net. … That’s the save we needed at the end of the day if we were gonna get points tonight.”

But for the second time in 24 hours, the Golden Knights walked away empty-handed.

They did, however, lose another player to injury, though the severity of the injury remains unclear. Cassidy did not have a postgame update on Jonas Rondbjerg, who was injured after playing 8:20. Rondbjerg is set to represent Denmark in the upcoming Olympics.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna be of any length,” Cassidy said of the injury. “I hope not, because he’s a great kid, and [he has] an opportunity to represent his country, so hopefully it’s short-term.”

There are just two games remaining for the Golden Knights before the Olympic break: Wednesday against Vancouver and Thursday against Los Angeles. Two more Pacific Division matchups with key points up for grabs.

“There’s two games left before the break, and we want to be feeling good going into it,” Theodore said. “Right now, it just sucks.”