NEW YORK — The tenor turned a bit after a second straight marathon day of NHL labor talks. Gone was some of the lightheartedness and rare optimism expressed about 24 hours earlier.

Representatives of the league and the players both said Wednesday’s long talks were “candid” and offered some sense of hope by announcing negotiations would resume later Thursday.

There is no doubt that work still needs to be done for a deal to be made that would save the hockey season.

“We had good, candid dialogue,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said early Thursday after nearly nine hours of talks at a Manhattan hotel. “There continue to be some critical open issues between the two parties, and we understand the union should be getting back to us (Thursday) on some of those issues.”

It isn’t known what progress — if any — was made, but owners and players understand that an agreement must be reached soon if they hope to get the game back on the ice this season.

The players’ association is expected to have internal discussions Thursday morning before meeting with the NHL later in the day.

“We had a series of candid discussions. We will meet again tomorrow,” said Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey, who like Daly didn’t take any questions after the talks ended for the night.