The Columbus Blue Jackets led 2-0 in the first period Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas scored the next four goals, ultimately winning 5-3 and handing the Blue Jackets their third straight loss.

Columbus got goals from Boone Jenner and Kent Johnson midway through the first frame. The first was against Vegas goaltender Carter Hart, who left the game after the score from the Blue Jackets captain, having been injured on the play. He was replaced by Akra Schmid, who went the rest of the way.

The Knights’ Reilly Smith scored the next goals, one in the first period, the next in the second, to tie the score. Vegas added two more before the end of the middle frame, from Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, to take a 4-2 lead.

Kirill Marchenko cut the Vegas lead in half with his 16th tally of the season with 5:32 remaining in the third period. Brett Howden put the Golden Knights back up by two goals less than two minutes later, before the Blue Jackets could pull goaltender Jet Greaves, and that was the end of the scoring.

Greaves, who was starting his eighth game in a row, had a tough night in the net. He faced 26 shots, allowing all five of the Vegas scores. Columbus had two new players in their lineup Thursday, Mikael Pyyhthia was recalled from Cleveland for the first time this year and newly-signed defenseman Egor Zamula saw his first action as a Jacket.

The Blue Jackets head to Colorado for a game against the Avalanche Saturday beginning at 4:00 p.m. EST. The Avalanche are the NHL’s best team by a good margin. They are 32-4-7 for 71 points to lead the Western Conference by 11 points.