ELMONT, N.Y. — In the last week and a half, the Wild have played the contenders, the pretenders and the hopefuls in between — and they’ve struggled against all of them.

That’s made their remaining schedule a crapshoot, with their latest loss the biggest headscratcher.

The Wild were downed, 3-1, by the sputtering Islanders, who had dropped six in a row before their victory Friday night at UBS Arena that wrapped a winless road trip for the Wild.

But what’s more concerning is the effect on the Wild’s playoff chances.

This slide — they’ve won only once in their past seven games, against the toughest team during that stretch in the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals, and are on a four-game skid — has made the race behind them more intriguing than the one in front of them. The Flames are just five points back of the Wild with two games in hand for the second and final wild-card berth in the Western Conference. Ahead of the Wild are the Blues with a two-point edge for the first wild card.

To make matters worse for the Wild, they finished the game without Jake Middleton after the defenseman was hit from behind by Bo Horvat and went crashing hands and head first into the boards.

Middleton’s exit came after New York’s Casey Cizikas and Simon Holmstrom spearheaded the Islanders’ rally in 1 minute, 44 seconds of the second period, with goaltender Ilya Sorokin racking up 27 saves — the only puck eluding him a bank shot off his mask by the Wild’s Mats Zuccarello.

After neither team capitalized in the first period, although New York had plenty of chances to, the Wild broke the stalemate when Zuccarello corralled a carom off the end boards and threw the puck off Sorokin and into the net 1:42 into the second. Marcus Johansson’s assist was his fourth point in his past two games.

But the Islanders didn’t let that Wild lead linger long: On the very next shift, Cizikas tipped a Noah Dobson point shot by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson. Then at 4:02, Holmstrom drove to the net and flicked forward a backhander that deflected in off Frederick Gaudreau’s skate.

Later in the second, Horvat was penalized only two minutes for boarding Middleton, who was helped off the ice after the collision.

The Wild didn’t convert during the ensuing power play, going 0 for 2, and their penalty kill surrendered an insurance goal to New York early in the third period. Dobson wound up again, and this time he connected at 3:36; before then, the Wild PK denied an earlier Islanders power play and all six chances earlier in the trip during losses to the Devils (3-2 in a shootout) and Rangers (5-4 in overtime). The PK had one more kill vs. the Islanders to end 2 for 3.

Gustavsson had 24 stops in his fifth consecutive start.

The only lineup change the Wild made was to sub Jon Merrill in on defense for Declan Chisholm, but coach John Hynes made it clear the swap wasn’t because of the turnover Chisholm made that led to a goal against.

“It’s not because he made a mistake in the game,” Hynes explained. “You analyze it, and you come back and say, ‘OK, what’s the best for our team? Who’s playing what roles?’ And that’s where it’s at.

“He knows that. I know that, and we’re gonna need him. He’s a big part of our team, but they’re all lineup decisions based on roles, responsibility and pairs.”

Next up for the Wild is a Sunday matinee at Xcel Energy Center against the Central Division rival Stars.

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