UNIONDALE, N.Y. — If there was any doubt Evgeni Malkin truly has returned, he answered that question fairly quickly Saturday.

To be precise, the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar center made his presence abundantly clear 4 minutes, 7 seconds into regulation during Game 4 of his team’s first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

That’s when he took the first of three penalties on the day after getting tangled up in a scuffle with Islanders nuisance Cal Clutterbuck. It was also the first of the six the Penguins took overall en route to a 4-1 road loss that evened the best-of-seven series 2-2.

Malkin, who happens to be the franchise’s career leader in postseason penalty minutes with 234, summed up the Penguins’ malfunctions in this contest succinctly.

“We understand (that) we take too many penalties tonight,” Malkin said via video conference. “The next game, we need (to) focus and play disciplined. Don’t give them any chance to play power play and (do) not take bad penalties.”

In contrast, the Islanders were penalized only twice.

That discrepancy led to five power-play opportunities for the Islanders and only one for the Penguins. It lasted all of 30 seconds when forward Jason Zucker was called for tripping at 4:34 of the third period.

“We get (30) seconds of power-play time to seven-plus minutes (for the Islanders),” coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s a big discrepancy. We can’t take the amount of penalties that we took.”

When the Penguins weren’t taking penalties, they were giving the Islanders other opportunities through slipshod puck management or other miscues.

After a quiet first period, the Islanders took a lead at 8:07 of the second. After Penguins defenseman Kris Letang lost a puck on his own end wall, Islanders forward Josh Bailey pumped in a wrister from the left circle for his second goal of the postseason.

Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock collected his first goal at 14:51 of the second when he chopped a loose puck from above the Penguins’ left circle off that struck Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci’s left skate and deflected into the net.

Any hope the Penguins had to make this a competitive contest was created when Penguins forward Sidney Crosby drew a holding minor on Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield at 4:04 of the third. But it quickly evaporated when Zucker was sent to the box. To make matters worse, Letang was called for interference at the 5:15 mark.

On the ensuing four-on-three power-play sequence, Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom stroked a one-timer from the left circle that initially was denied by goaltender Tristan Jarry, who finished with 23 saves. But on the ensuing rebound, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger inadvertently tapped the puck into his own net. Wahlstrom was credited with his first goal at 6:04.

Another power-play score, this time at five-on-four by Islanders forward Jordan Eberle, his first, put the hosts up by four at 6:28.

“It would have been nice to get a (longer) chance on the power play there, try to get ourselves back into it,” Crosby said. “It’s either the penalties or just the timing of them. We’ve just got to do a better job of staying out of the box.”

A short-handed goal at 17:25 of the third by Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese, the first postseason score of his career, was the lone bright spot on an otherwise dismal performance by the Penguins.

“We need to forget this game and forget this day,” Malkin said. “It’s a best-of-three now.”

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