NEW YORK — A fourth straight day of NHL labor talks failed to bring the league and its locked-out players any closer to a deal that would put hockey back on the ice and save the season.

In fact, the gap between the fighting factions might have gotten even wider on a failed Friday.

After three consecutive seemingly positive days of talks this week, discussions turned a bit sour when negotiations ended for the night. The union was under the impression the numbers suggested they were nearer to an agreement with the league. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman disagreed.

“Gary made a comment (Thursday) that there is still a lot of work to do. I think, given today’s session, there is still a lot of work to do,” Donald Fehr said.