Whether or not the Islanders ultimately make the playoffs, one of the first priorities of the offseason must be to figure out how their power play went so drastically wrong this season. 

With Game 82 on Wednesday, there is no magic fix coming for a five-on-four unit that is scoreless in its past 16 attempts and has just five goals in 54 tries since Mathew Barzal’s mid-February injury.

But the lack of explanation or ability to fix a woeful 15.53 percent season-long conversion rate, ranked 31st league wide, doesn’t change the fact it is well below the standard.

Not just of a playoff team, but of a personnel group that, even without Barzal, includes five more-than-competent offensive players on its top unit. 

Just last season, the Islanders converted at 22.12 percent, slightly above league average.

The 12 extra goals that amounted to would more than likely be the difference between playoff safety and the wait-and-hope situation in which the Islanders currently find themselves. 

“I didn’t see enough shots,” coach Lane Lambert said following his team’s 5-2 loss Monday night to the Capitals, in which the Islanders tested goalie Darcy Kuemper just one time in 6:00 at five-on-four. “So, move the puck around, at some point, somebody’s gotta get it to the net. When we did get it to the net, the couple times we did, it created opportunity.

“But we had opportunities to score and get back into the game and we didn’t do it.” 

The Islanders have tried mixing up their units at times, but haven’t found a combination that sticks.

As a result, the top unit of Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri, Bo Horvat, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee has mostly stayed intact since Barzal’s injury. 

According to Natural Stat Trick, that quintet has scored just four goals with 14 high-danger chances in 48:40 at five-on-four.

or an average 2-minute minor penalty, that averages out to an abysmal 0.57 high-danger chances. 

“Right now it’s tough,” Nelson said. “It feels like you get a look, you’re not getting the next bounce.” 

It’s pretty clear, though, that the problem goes well beyond a few bad bounces or a typical dry spell. Outside of the six games in which Horvat and Barzal were both on the top power-play unit, the Islanders have gone 28-for-212 (13.2 percent) all season. 

That is something that could take an entire offseason to fix. 

The AHL Bridgeport Islanders signed right winger Matt Maggio to a tryout deal Monday. Maggio, the Islanders’ fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, had 54 goals and 57 assists with the OHL Windsor Spitfires.