COLUMBUS, Ohio — Nobody was even trying to deny it. The Islanders know exactly where they stand, know that the playoffs are right around the corner, and know that the steps to get there are not any easier than ones they took to get to this spot.

That was reaffirmed with a no-frills 4-0 loss to the surging Blue Jackets on Tuesday night, keeping any chance of the Isles clinching still a few games away.

“Everybody knows, and if they say they don’t, they’re lying to you,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We’re very conscious. We’re pushing. We’re trying to get it. It wasn’t like we’re not trying.”

Of course the Islanders (44-26-7) are trying, and of course they continue to play defense and to work hard as the gap between them and the first-place Capitals was extended to three points after Washington’s 4-1 win over the Hurricanes. And of course the Isles again struggled to score, not getting a ton of great chances for goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to deal with as he picked up a 26-save shutout, the third time the Isles have been shut out in the past five games.

Trotz wanted to throw out the other two — 5-0 to the Bruins and 4-0 in Montreal in consecutive games last week — saying, “Those are junk. That wasn’t us.” Credit here also deserves to be heaped on John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets (42-30-4), who came back from an 11-day road trip out West and kept their postseason hopes alive.

Both veteran coaches know this is sometimes what playoff games look like, and you have to find a way to win them.

“I think you want to play a more exciting game,” Tortorella said, “but it just doesn’t happen against that team.”

No, the Islanders don’t play an exciting game, but it’s what has gotten them here. If they had beaten Columbus in regulation and then taken a win on the second game of this road trip, in Winnipeg on Thursday night, they could have clinched that elusive postseason berth.

But now they have to wait, and the longer they wait, the more the pressure builds.

“Oh, we know where we are,” captain Anders Lee said. “We’re not oblivious. We’re not in that big of a bubble. We know where we stand. We know every circumstance it comes down to. But at the end of the day, once that puck drops, that’s all out of our control. It’s just us playing the game.”

It would have been easier for the Islanders if this was the third installment of ‘Thomas Greiss beats the Blue Jackets,’ with the Isles netminder having shut them out in his previous two starts this season. But, as Trotz pointed out, Greiss “probably would want a couple back.” Those were goals on clean shots from Ryan Dzingel (on the power play) and Oliver Bjorkstrand bookending a breakaway tally from the superlative Artemi Panarin.

“Sure, a couple goals you want to have back,” Greiss said. “Sometimes it just goes that way.”

By the time Cam Atkinson finished it into the empty net, the scoreboard looked a lot more lopsided than the game. According to Trotz, the Islanders actually had more scoring chances than Columbus. They just could never beat Bobrovsky, and the offensive production will continue to remain their biggest concern.

“Getting shut out is never fun, three times in a week and a half,” said Brock Nelson, who probably had the Islanders’ best chance from in front just a minute into the game that was stopped by Bobrovsky. “You definitely start to squeeze it, for sure.”

The Islanders are going to need a big push soon to get over this hump and get their playoff spot clinched, relieving some pressure at least temporarily. Until then, it’s more of this.

“We’re all in tune with it, we know where we are. But I wouldn’t say that it’s a distraction,” Lee said. “It’s all part of the pressure of closing out a season.”