LOS ANGELES — While every coach and player will reiterate ad nauseam that a hockey game lasts 60 minutes, a 76-second stretch of the first period went a long way toward deciding the Kings’ fate in their 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Four goals were scored during that span, three of them by Vegas, and for 38 minutes of the game, the Kings trailed by three goals or more.

“If you look at the first period, we forgot who we were,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We would pinch at the most inopportune times, we got lazy on transition from offense to defense, it was outnumbered rush after outnumbered rush, and that’s not who we are.”

Winger Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist, and winger Alex Iafallo and forward Trevor Moore also scored for the Kings. Center Alex Turcotte, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 draft, made his NHL debut and registered three shots on goal. Jonathan Quick and Garret Sparks combined to make 21 saves.

Winger Jonathan Marchessault had two goals and an assist to pace Vegas. Winger Reilly Smith and center Chandler Stephenson contributed a goal and an assist apiece, and wingers Mattias Janmark and Keegan Kolesar each scored. Backup goalie Laurent Brossoit stopped 24 shots.

It was an inauspicious beginning to the Kings’ Crypto.com era. Just after a mid-period retrospective of the Staples Center years featuring former announcer Bob Miller was shown on the scoreboard, Vegas lit it up with two goals in 26 seconds.

First, the Kings failed to clear the puck during a penalty kill, setting in motion a swift sequence that culminated in Smith redirecting Marchessault’s pass home for a power-play goal.

Kolesar followed that by tipping in former Kings and Ducks defenseman Ben Hutton’s slap shot.

The Kings got a goal back 13 seconds later after defenseman Drew Doughty’s long saucer pass missed everyone and banked off the end boards to Kempe ahead of the pack. Without hesitation, he sniped a wrist shot past Brossoit for his team-leading 13th goal of the season.

“I was trying to stretch it out a little bit and (Doughty) saw me. He threw it hard and I felt like I couldn’t catch it right away so I tried to read it off the boards … and just tried to shoot it high,” Kempe said.

The joy was fleeting as 37 seconds later the Golden Knights’ line of Marchessault, Smith and William Karlsson – a trio that has been together for practically the entire five-season history of the franchise – extended their lead to two once more.

A slick entry afforded Karlsson a sterling chance, but his shot hit the post. Marchessault dashed into the midst of three defenders to pounce on the rebound before transitioning deftly from backhand to forehand and back to his backhand for a picturesque goal in tight quarters.

Late in the period, for a change of pace, there was some stellar goaltending when Quick dove to his stomach, swiped at the puck and managed to delay Karlsson’s shot and make an improbable save.

But Vegas stretched its advantage 1:21 into the second period when a play below the goal line left the low slot unprotected. Forward Nicolas Roy collected the puck behind the net and sent it in front for Stephenson, who ripped a shot past Quick for a power-play goal.

Less than 90 seconds later, a turnover nearly led to a tic-tac-toe goal for Vegas, and the Golden Knights recovered the puck. They moved the puck high to defenseman Zach Whitecloud, whose shot from the blue line was deflected through Quick by Janmark.

Quick’s fifth goal allowed on 15 shots chased him from the game, marking the first time he has been pulled this season. Sparks made his second appearance of the season after his solid performance in the Kings’ most recent game, on Dec. 19 against Washington.

“Like everyone else, (Quick) was trying to find his way. I wasn’t going to leave him in for numbers 6, 7 and 8,” McLellan said.

With 4:30 remaining in the second period, defenseman Matt Roy lofted the puck ahead for Moore, who zipped ahead for a short-handed breakaway goal.

That gain also proved ephemeral, as less than two minutes into the third period Marchessault scored an unassisted goal as a result of a Doughty turnover in front of the Kings’ net.

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Doughty played his first game since Dec. 14 after entering the COVID-19 protocols ahead of what turned out to be an eight-day break. On Tuesday, he was on the ice for four of the six goals the Kings allowed.

“That wasn’t Drew Doughty tonight. You could tell he hadn’t played in (two) weeks. He needs to get going again and he’d be the first to tell you that,” McLellan said.

Nearly four minutes later, Iafallo netted his 10th goal of the season, a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot off a smooth cross-ice pass from defenseman Sean Durzi. The Kings could not get any closer.