Two things have become abundantly clear over the course of four first-round games between the Islanders and Hurricanes.

The first is that the Islanders have the ability to take control at five-on-five.

The second is that controlling the game at five-on-five will be nowhere near enough to win this series.

To rip off James Carville — it’s the special teams, stupid.

Frustrating as it is, that’s reality for the Islanders after an embarrassing 5-2 loss in Game 4 to Carolina at UBS Arena on Sunday, which gave the ’Canes a 3-1 series lead.

Now, the Islanders will be playing for their season on Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C., despite playing a series in which, over the last three games, they’ve often had Carolina on the ropes at even strength.

“We gotta start staying out of the box, to be honest with you,” Bo Horvat said after a game in which the Islanders took eight penalties, five of them leading to Carolina power plays and two of those to Hurricanes’ goals. “It just kills a lot of momentum that we fail the game.”

Even the Islanders’ advantage at five-on-five, though, was long gone by the end of Sunday’s game, in which the Hurricanes took the life out of the building and, quite possibly, the Islanders’ season.

The damage was done during a disastrous second period, but started at the end of the first when — for the second time this series — Matt Martin’s frustration spilled over and he took a penalty after the horn, this one for roughing.

Martin Necas converted a cross-crease feed from Stefan Noesen on the ensuing power play to double Carolina’s lead to 2-0 and the Islanders unraveled from there, playing like a team that was already defeated.

Forced to chase the game, the Isles failed to give Antti Raanta all that much to worry about, throwing away three power-play opportunities with just two shots on net total at five-on-four and putting just 29 total shots on net.

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“A lot of rebounds in front where we’re just half a second late getting there,” Noah Dobson said. “A couple blocked shots by them. Just gotta find a better job to get pucks to the net, win those battles in front. It’s all one-on-one battles out there, they play man-to-man. So you can just try and beat your guy and win battles.”

The backbreaker came at even strength, with Carolina’s Sebastian Aho capitalizing on Alexander Romanov’s turnover to finish a two-on-one from Mackenzie MacEachern at 13:30 of the second.

Instead of a push, the Islanders almost immediately wilted in the third, giving up a breakaway goal to Seth Jarvis 1:20 in to make it 4-0.

That rendered the rest of the game — which included goals from Adam Pelech, MacEachern and Horvat — a slow march to the end.

“They didn’t allow us to get below the goal line with a ton of possession,” Zach Parise said. “Felt like [that was] what was working last game.”

Even so, there were stretches in Game 4 — particularly during the first period — in which the Islanders controlled play at five-on-five, doing just as they had in Game 3 and for much of Game 2.

But five-on-five does not a hockey game make. Let alone a series.

All season, the power play has been a disaster for the Islanders and it is threatening to upend their playoff run before it even starts.

The first unit of Dobson, Horvat, Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee has not scored since Barzal returned to the lineup in Game 1, or come particularly close.

Prior to Barzal’s return, the same unit with Kyle Palmieri in his place had scored once since March 10. It is becoming more and more mystifying to try and figure out why they are still together.

“They’re the guys that should be on the power play,” coach Lane Lambert said. “They’re the guys that have to get it done.”

The Islanders got a power-play goal (via their second unit) towards the end of Game 3 to help break it open, but that was just their second since March 24.

To make things worse, they cannot seem to stop taking penalties, further sapping whatever momentum they gain at five-on-five.

That was how, after a first period in which Carolina was credited with just two high-danger chances at five-on-five, it led 1-0 — via Jarvis’ five-on-three goal, which followed a reckless penalty by Ryan Pulock for boarding Jack Drury.

Strange as it is to say, the Islanders have simultaneously found a winning formula while walking their season up to the edge of a cliff.

And the Hurricanes are threatening to knock them right off.