SUNRISE, Fla. — The Islanders probably could use some of their injured forwards back right about now.

Sunday was one of those games when you felt the absences of Kyle Palmieri (ACL), Jonathan Drouin (lower back) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body) on nearly every shift.

The Islanders had done a good job of pushing that out of mind and overcoming the holes those absences left in the lineup in the two games since Drouin went down, but with he and Pageau both day to day — Palmieri is out for the season — the best time for them to come back would be Tuesday at home against Vegas.

As for Sunday on the road against the Panthers, the Islanders couldn’t generate enough offense on the second end of a back-to-back and lost 4-1 at Amerant Bank Arena to snap a three-game winning streak.

Mathew Barzal fights for possession during the Islanders’ Dec. 7 loss. NHLI via Getty Images

The Panthers celebrate a loss to the Islanders on Dec. 7. Imagn Images

Max Shabanov, who has replaced Palmieri on the second line, had a nightmare shift in the second period, double-clutching a shot that was blocked as a result, turning the puck over on the cycle, then turning it over a second time deep in the defensive zone, leading straight to a Carter Verhaeghe goal.

That made it 2-0 Panthers 7:05 into the second period — Uvis Balinskis had scored the opener 12:14 into the first on a point shot that David Rittich never saw — and prompted Patrick Roy to move Shabanov to the third line and bring Simon Holmstrom up to the second.

The Islanders did give themselves a chance, with Mat Barzal cutting the Florida lead in half two minutes after Verhaeghe’s goal with a backhand shot that went off Gustav Forsling and in.

Needing a push in the third period, though, their offense looked no different from how it had for the rest of the night. Which is to say, there wasn’t much of it.

The Panthers effectively kept the Islanders contained, making it hard to get through the neutral zone and making it harder to get to the inside whenever the puck did cross the blue line.

Seth Jones delivered the dagger for Florida at four-on-four, scoring off the rush after Travis Mitchell and A.J. Greer had exchanged roughing minors to make it 3-1 at 13:57 of the third.

David Rittich reacts during the Islanders’ Dec. 7 loss to the Panthers. Imagn Images

Sam Reinhart’s empty-netter put the finishing touch on it.

It didn’t help, either, that Bo Horvat’s line was quieted for a second straight game or that Matthew Schaefer had a pedestrian weekend, at least by his standards, though he still assisted Barzal’s goal for his 21st point, the second-most in history by an 18-year-old defenseman through 30 games.

The plain fact right now, though, is that the Islanders are operating without a third of their top nine, and they look like it.

Though a six-goal outburst against Colorado on Thursday helped buttress their numbers, that was one of just two games since Pageau got hurt in which the Islanders have scored more than twice.

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The result of the injuries has been significantly more responsibility being thrust on Holmstrom, Shabanov, Cal Ritchie and Max Tsyplakov — a quartet of talented players, all of whom have had strong flashes and all of whom have, at various points, looked like good options in the top six.

But all are also either under 25 or, in the case of the two Russians, still prone to moments in which their adjustment from the KHL to the NHL still is on display.

That appeared to very much be the case, for example, on Shabanov’s shift that led to Verhaeghe’s second-period goal.

In a perfect world, the Islanders would have the time and depth to let everyone develop and adjust at their own pace.

In this world, they don’t.