NEW YORK — The NHL and the locked-out players are talking again, just not for very long.

After an eight-day wait between bargaining sessions — as hockey remained on ice — negotiations resumed Monday night at the league office, but were over in less than two hours. There wasn’t any visible anger between the sides when talks wrapped up for the night, and both camps spoke optimistically that discussions would continue soon, perhaps face-to-face again as soon as Tuesday.

“We will be in touch with them in the morning,” union executive director Donald Fehr said on a chilly Manhattan sidewalk Monday night. “It’s certainly a good possibility of it. I would say it’s more likely than not.”

The only question is when — or whether —one side will say something the other really wants to hear. These negotiations have been going for a while, yet there hasn’t been any kind of breakthrough to pave the way to a deal that would allow the already shortened hockey season to get started.

The lockout entered its 65th day on Monday and has already wiped out 327 games. More cancellations could be coming soon, but the NHL hasn’t said when another such announcement might be coming. For now the focus is still on trying to get a deal as quickly as possible.

Both sides know the lockout has inflicted a lot of damage on the sport that produced record revenues of over $3 billion last season. Every day of lost time is hurting everyone, and at some point owners and players will have to decide how much of the losses each side will have to absorb.

“I think every week is important in the process,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “I don’t attach a particular significance to this week over last week or next week. I want to play tomorrow.”

Not a whole lot was accomplished on Monday, but the sides at least looked forward to the next time they will get together.