Isles crushed, 6-0, at worst time possible

They weren't ready.

In their biggest game so far, with a chance to be closer to a playoff spot than they'd been since November, the Islanders failed to pass the most basic test at this time of the season, and the Ottawa Senators reminded them how costly it is to be unprepared.

Rookie goaltender Kevin Poulin allowed two goals in the first 95 seconds Monday afternoon before being pulled, and the rest of his team was a step behind even after Al Montoya entered. The 6-0 final in front of 15,818 at Nassau Coliseum was never in doubt, leaving the Islanders six points behind eighth-place Toronto and 12 points behind the Senators.

"You can't have the emotion we had on the bench tonight," Jack Capuano said. "We needed some push-back after the first two goals, and I just didn't see it in a lot of guys."

After working hard in January to get themselves back to the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Islanders have failed to get any momentum going in February. Monday marked the fifth time this month the Isles have followed a win with a loss. The last four were in regulation and were over well before the final horn sounded.

They've been outscored 17-4 in those four losses, Monday being the third of those on home ice. This was the 10th time the Islanders have been shut out and the sixth at home, tying a franchise record set in the 1972-73 season, the organization's expansion year.

The Islanders get right back at it Tuesday night in Buffalo, but time is growing short to keep taking small steps forward and backward.

"We keep doing this to ourselves," said Mark Streit, who was a minus-3. "We have good games with a lot of energy, the people like it, we like it, the coaches are happy. Then the next game, there's nothing. The intensity's missing and we have bad starts."

Monday was one of the worst. Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, who had two goals and two assists, corralled Matt Martin's breakout pass and threw a no-angle shot from the boards that hit off Poulin's stick and went behind him at 1:08 of the first.

On a delayed penalty, Jason Spezza beat Poulin from the slot 27 seconds later, and the 21-year-old goaltender clearly was rattled by his initial mistake. Capuano pulled him and inserted Montoya, but the Islanders' skaters played as if the game already had been decided. Passes went off skates instead of sticks, Senators were left uncovered and there was no forechecking pressure.

"Stand around and watch" was how Capuano described his team's defensive-zone play. "You make good players look even better."

Just after Michael Grabner failed to get a shot on net on a shorthanded breakaway, Karlsson scored again at 14:03 of the first as an Ottawa power play ended. Chris Phillips scored on an unscreened point shot on the power play at 9:37 of the second. Brian Lee and Spezza scored in the third. The shots were 27-10 in the Sens' favor after two periods, and they were not at all misleading.

Aside from a Martin fight in the second, the only fire shown by an Islander was negative. P.A. Parenteau got 24 penalty minutes and was ejected midway through the third for arguing with referee Gord Dwyer.

"We could have been four points out of the playoffs if we win this," Brian Rolston said. "You've got to be consistent, and we let this one go."