The Islanders spent the three games prior to Friday looking like a group that had just watched their best friend get traded.
That no longer was the case at home against Edmonton.
Instead, they looked like a group that had just watched their best scorer get traded.
The intensity that had been missing earlier in the week, at least, was back.
But all that meant was there was no place to look for the cause of this 2-1 overtime defeat on home ice against the Oilers aside from what’s fast becoming obvious: The Islanders have got a scoring problem on their hands.
After Friday, it’s three goals over their past 180:00 of hockey, a mark that would be alarming at any point of the season, but especially now.
Against a more talented Oilers team — but one the Isles regularly have played tough over the past few seasons — the ice was tilted for much of the night prior to Leon Draisaitl’s game-winner, with Ilya Sorokin the main reason this didn’t get out of hand in the first period.
Nominally, at least, there is a playoff race here — the Islanders gained ground even by losing Friday by virtue of going to OT.
With six home games in seven, Friday included, this is a stretch in which the Islanders, now four points back of a spot, must take advantage.
What’s a lot less clear is whether they can.
There were not many Grade-A looks for the Isles in this one — there have not been since the Brock Nelson trade — but those there were often served to highlight the club’s lack of scorers.
Like the two-on-one rush at four-on-four with Alexander Romanov and Tony DeAngelo early in the second, with nary a forward in sight.
Or the odd-man rush later in the period, when Bo Horvat fed Scott Mayfield, only for Mayfield to fumble the puck, then take a penalty in short order.
Meanwhile, Draisaitl’s cannon boom of a slap shot at 8:46 of the second was enough for the Oilers to take a 1-0 lead into the third, even with Sorokin looking his unflappable best and bailing out a series of Islander errors early in the night.
The Islanders tied it up just 1:21 into the third, with Horvat taking the puck off Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and keeping it himself to tie the game at 1-1.
That set off an end-to-end and highly entertaining third period, through which both teams traded chances. For the Isles, it was their best hockey since Nelson has been traded.
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It also wasn’t enough.
This would take overtime to settle, the Islanders’ first three-on-three hockey since Feb. 1, and to make matters worse, Adam Pelech hobbled off after appearing to get hurt during the extra period.
Right after the Islanders threatened with a series of chances, Draisaitl came down the ice to score off the rush past Sorokin.
If the Islanders do have the sort of offensive punch to stay in the race without Nelson, they’ve yet to show it.
Kyle Palmieri, No. 29’s most common linemate over the past couple of seasons, has yet to record a point in four games without him.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Simon Holmstrom could drive play on the third line; it’s a lot less clear that they can do so on the second.
Anthony Duclair has yet to recover his game post-injury.
And the power play, well, that was last in the league with Nelson, and it hasn’t improved without him.
The Islanders still are in the race on paper.
It’s starting not to look that way on the ice.