What we learned from the Ducks’ 5-2 loss to the Islanders on Monday

What we learned from the Ducks’ 5-2 loss to the Islanders on Monday at Brooklyn:

-- Yes, the Ducks are only five points out of third place in the Pacific division and an automatic playoff berth. But does anyone who has watched this team regularly this season truly believe they can make up even that small a deficit?

They’re disengaged. Not pushing back. Not scoring: their league-low total of 60 goals is exactly half the total of league-leading Dallas.

They’re a mess.

Which brings us to….

-- It doesn’t matter anymore whether General Manager Bob Murray has kept Bruce Boudreau as his coach because no one better was available, as Boudreau was on the market when Murray decided to fire Randy Carlyle in 2011. If he had wanted assistant coach Paul MacLean or assistant coach Trent Yawney to take over, Murray would have made that move by now.

And it doesn’t matter if Murray kept Boudreau out of a reluctance to make him pay the price for the failings of players, including several of Murray’s most recent acquisitions.

What matters is that this team is broken and doesn’t appear capable of coming within an Olympic-sized rink of meeting expectations.

The Ducks need a jolt, and while it would be unfair to fire Boudreau because players aren’t doing their jobs, realistically it’s the only option Murray has left. The contracts of Ryan Getzlaf ($8.25-million annual cap hit through 20-21) and Corey Perry ($8.625-million cap hit through 20-21) have a no-movement clause. They have enough depth on defense to trade one of their younger players but it wouldn’t have the kind of impact they need in order to stop this from becoming a wasted season. If that isn’t the case already.

-- It might be a wasted season, with the weakness of the Pacific division allowing the Ducks to preserve the illusion they’re not all that far from a playoff spot. If they have the ability to turn it on and score some goals and be the team they were projected to be, now would be the time to do that.

Maybe they don’t have that ability, and this is who they are. “If I had the answer for you I would have answered it a month ago,” Getzlaf said in the Ducks’ silent locker room at the Barclays Center. “It’s the same thing. We’ve got to focus. I think a lot of it’s mental. When you show up to the rink on a daily basis we have to understand what our job is. Our job isn’t just to show up here and put our skates on and go out there and see what happens. We have to have the mental focus it takes to play in this league on a nightly basis.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

Twitter: @helenenothelen