This first game of a seven-game homestand was like the Islanders' first day back from vacation, and not in a good way.
In many ways, that was the three-game road trip leading up to Tuesday, a clean sweep.
A break from the rest of a disappointing season.
Out of nowhere, the Islanders were riding into the building of a playoff team and winning.
Back in their own backyard, a four-point game against an Eastern Conference opponent with a shot at two wild-card spots was similar to what the Islanders have produced for most of the season and what the Senators have shown. We won 2-0.
The Islanders inherited the physicality and hard defense that supported the West.
However, they continued to struggle offensively, unable to break up the puck for most of the night and doing little against goaltending in Levi Melilainen, who was starting his ninth NHL game.
After Patrick Roy's successful goaltender interference challenge negated Adam Gaudette's goal in the opening minutes of the night, the result was a battle of attrition with every inch of the ice fought for.
In games like this, the Islanders sometimes shine, but not as much as in previous years, and not as much as they did on Tuesday.
The Islanders quickly fell behind and found themselves playing most of the game in their own zone.
The Islanders were short-handed with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ilya Sorokin out with illness.
But it wasn't their injury or locker room bug that forced Mark Gatcomb to make his NHL debut on an emergency call-up and Marcus Hogberg to start in the crease for the second straight year.
The top line, which drove play all night against Utah two days ago, was primarily focused on playing against the Senators' Brady Tkachuk line all night.
This just puts Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, and Mathieu Barzal in the same group as the rest of the Islanders, and nothing will work out no matter who is on the ice.
It didn't help matters that the power play continued to spiral toward the abyss, getting nothing on their only chance to extend their scoreless streak to 25 straight chances from over a month ago.
After 40 minutes, Ottawa held a 1-0 lead on Gaudette's tip-in at 8:42 into the second inning, but they were avenging their no-goal performance in the first half. The question was whether the Islanders would show the resiliency they showed in Salt Lake City.
The answer was a resounding no.
Other than Hogberg, who continued to perform well in net, the Islanders didn't play the third with as much tenacity as the first and second.
They never gained any kind of offensive traction beyond the odd chance here and there.
Instead, they spent a lot of time in their own zone, relied on keeping the game close to their goalkeeper, and failed to even register any dangerous chances in the final 20 minutes.
Hogberg did it — Ottawa's second goal came on a slapshot that Artem Zub drilled into an empty net — so there was at least one positive from the night. .
But this team is long past the point where signs of hope matter, especially against a Senators club competing for the same wild-card spot.
The islanders' vacation is over. The long, harsh winter in the East is back. And they will need more than this to survive this winter.
