SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Forty-three games into the season, the Islanders still have a whole lot of the same problems they did back in October: a penalty kill and defensive zone that isn’t good enough; an overworked No. 1 goaltender; a lack of physicality; a team that, up and down the lineup, is not anywhere nearly consistent enough to play to its potential on a nightly basis.

After putting together one of their worst efforts of the season and losing 5-0 to the Wild on Monday night, all those problems are continuing to snowball in 2024.

The Islanders are 2-5-2 since Dec. 31, out of a playoff spot and now need to win on the second end of a back-to-back for the first time all year to avoid going below .500 on this road trip through the Central Division.

“We were f–king bad,” Cal Clutterbuck said.

That about sums it up.

The Isles are only a point out of a wild-card spot, so it is not as if the season is on the brink.

But this is as bad as things have felt since a seven-game losing streak in mid-November led to coach Lane Lambert being asked about his job status, not just because of the recent results but because of how they have come.

The lack of pushback and level of disinterest on Monday was jarring.

The Islanders let Minnesota live in their offensive zone, particularly in a shambolic second period where they were outshot 21-3 over 20 minutes.

“I just didn’t like our effort at all,” Lambert said. “I didn’t think we were 100 percent committed to playing the game the right way, right from the start. It just kinda snowballed as we went along.”

After a gut-punch of a loss on Saturday in Nashville, it was the exact opposite of what the Isles needed — an effort that reflected poorly on everyone who had a hand in it.

“It’s not who we are,” Scott Mayfield told The Post. “It’s not how we want to play. It wasn’t good.”

A middle period in which the Islanders played lifeless hockey ultimately did them in.

Connor Dewar extended Minnesota’s lead to 2-0 just 2:18 into the second after Sebastian Aho turned the puck over from behind his own net, allowing Dewar to skate into the slot and get a shot off unimpeded.

Joel Eriksson Ek then made it 3-0 on the power play after Bo Horvat’s delay of game penalty, deflecting in Kirill Kaprizov’s feed to the crease with little resistance.

“We got outworked and we got out-competed,” Lambert said.

The Islanders waved the proverbial white flag by pulling Ilya Sorokin for the final 20 minutes — presumably to rest him in advance of a back-to-back on Tuesday in Winnipeg — and giving Ken Appleby his first NHL action since January 2018.

Then a pair of late Minnesota goals — one of them shorthanded — put an exclamation mark on the embarrassment.

The downward spiral started just minutes into the night, when Mats Zuccarello took advantage of an early Anders Lee penalty — the first of five the Isles would take — to give the Wild a lead within three minutes of puck drop..

“Just didn’t think we were very clean,” Nelson said. “Things kinda snowballed from there. We didn’t really get to a grind game or generate much possession and get through the neutral [zone] and into the offensive [zone], really, until the last little bit there. Wasn’t a well-played game by us.”

All year, the Islanders have dealt with injuries and suffered gut-punch loss after gut-punch loss.

For the most part, they have rolled with it and bounced back when needed, hanging around the playoff race as a result.

But on Monday, the pain of Alexandre Carrier’s game-winner with 7.9 seconds left in Saturday’s loss to the Predators looked as though it had yet to wear off. Ditto for the wear and tear of the last month, over which the injury situation has taken one step back for each step forward.

“We were just awful,” Clutterbuck said. “We were just bad.”

It’s a tough spot, no one can argue that. But the Islanders need points and sympathy won’t get them any.

Back in November, the Islanders ultimately bounced back off that losing streak to put together their best four-week stretch of the season and vault right back into playoff contention.

A similar turnaround would do them wonders right now.

If efforts like Monday are going to be the norm, though, they might as well take their ball and go home.