This wasn't just a loss, and it looked like it was probably headed for an ugly loss for the Islanders.
For 45 minutes, they played disjointed, disjointed hockey.
They couldn't have possession of the puck.
He only recorded 16 shots in two periods.
Even though we were only down by one point, it felt like rock bottom and that was the moment we stopped being positive about how we were playing.
That's it.
Instead, the Islanders can end Tuesday completely optimistic about what matters most: the outcome.
They staged a late comeback, but Bo Horvat beat the Penguins 4-3 in a shootout and Isaiah George made his NHL debut with half of the Islanders still missing on the blue line. In the midst of this, they solidified their resilient come-from-behind victory.
Michael Bunting's goal at 7:44 of the third inning looked like the winning goal, giving the Penguins a 3-1 lead despite the Islanders' early failures, and a small group lead. A chant of “Fire Lou” broke out. Fans had clearly seen enough.
But less than two minutes later, Drew O'Connor's penalty for kneeing Noah Dobson opened up the Islanders for an immediate comeback, with Simon Holmstrom lifting a backhand from a down and immediately powering the ball. They made the play and started the rally.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau followed, scoring a rebound from Anders Lee at 12 minutes, 48 seconds, and let out a roar with two fist pumps.
In terms of morale, this may have been the most important goal of the start of the season.
This sent the Islanders into overtime, and just 30 seconds later, Kyle Palmieri was penalized for holding.
But the Islanders got their own turn on the power play after the much-maligned penalty corps went for a 4-on-3 kill and moments later Kris Letang tripped Horvat.
However, the Islanders were still unable to score 4-on-3.
And in the skills competition, Horvat beat Alex Nedeljkovic with a mean start-stop move to score the only goal, while Ilya Sorokin stopped all three of Pittsburgh's shots.
None of that explains how bad most of the night was.
It wasn't so much about the left side of the defense, which lost all three regular starters, or the top line, which lost Matt Barzal and Anthony Duclair.
It was a talk about basics and basics.
This was something new for a team that, despite losing, had been holding the puck most nights and getting about half the chances, even as they struggled to finish.
The Islanders struggled to complete passes and didn't seem to be reading the same book during puckouts, leading to long stretches surrounded by their own zone.
After a scoreless first period, the Penguins inevitably got a point 5:27 into the second when Scott Mayfield failed to corral the puck and star center missed. He gave Sidney Crosby a look from a low position.
The Islanders claimed offside and Noel Acciari appeared to cross the blue line as he came off the ice for a substitution, but the goal was ruled good and Patrick Roy was benched.
At 12:21 of the same period, Palmieri took advantage of a rare opportunity to tie the game by hitting the puck after the puck popped out following Horvat's initial shot, but less than 90 seconds later, Palmieri took advantage of a rare opportunity to tie the game. Malkin scored from the left circle. The Penguins went up 2-1 on the power play.
In fact, the score was more than flattering for a team that trailed 21-10 through the 40th minute, according to Natural Stat Trick.
However, the islanders do not have much time to worry about such things. They will be happy to come out of this with two points.
