Until they recognize that the league is serious about enforcing its rules, the Islanders will continue their nightly million-player march to the penalty box.

Furthering an infraction inclination that began in the season opener, the Islanders were whistled for eight penalties in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre.

Their final penalty, a cross-check by Roman Hamrlik at 12:28 of the third period, led to Mats Sundin’s game-winning power play goal.

“We’ll have to get out of the box,” the frustrated coach Butch Goring said after Wednesday’s defeat. “We just don’t give each other a chance to play five on five.”

By serving 14 minutes and 33 seconds of penalty time (nearly eight minutes longer than the Leafs did), it is hardly a surprise that the Islanders were out-shot 33-20.

So while Goring is not thrilled about the league’s crackdown on penalties, he said the players have to adjust.

“We need to understand this is the way it’s played,” he said.

Goring had hoped the Isles (0-1-1) had realized this after the season opener against the Lightning at Tampa last Friday. In the 3-3 tie, the Isles committed nine penalties and allowed a power play goal.

But the second-year coach left that game with a better feeling than he did Wednesday. While he thought the Isles controlled the Lightning for much of the night, Goring felt the team was out-hustled by the Leafs.

“I did not like the way we played overall,” he said.

It didn’t help that for the second straight game, the Islanders failed to capitalize on their power play. With an 0-4 showing, they fell to 0-12 for the season heading into the home opener tomorrow night against the Flames at the Coliseum.