SEATTLE — Getting past the trade deadline should be the spark for a team in the middle of a playoff race. Whether it’s the influx of a new addition or the certainty of what a roster is going to look like the rest of the way, post-deadline can be the moment a playoff-worthy team starts to take off.

Any kind of spark or boost from the deadline was absent on Saturday night for the Seattle Kraken.

A flat first 30 minutes left a short-handed team playing catchup and ultimately was too much for the Kraken to overcome in a humbling 7-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators.

“Trying to pinpoint something we did really well would be very, very difficult to do,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “I think as a group, coaching staff right on down we got to be better. Starts with me, moves right on down the line. There wasn’t any positives tonight.”

Seattle lost its second straight home game after fumbling its final game going into the deadline and losing to St. Louis before following up with the sluggish effort against the Senators.

With 20 games left and such a tight race in the Western Conference for playoff position, the Kraken can’t afford many — if any — more duds like this effort against the Senators. The Kraken still hold the second wild-card spot, one point ahead of San Jose, but it makes Tuesday’s game with Nashville an essential must-win.

“I think right from the start again the energy level, the awareness of just how close everything is, a team that’s on the other side that we don’t see much, but in the same boat of battling for a playoff spot, obviously, you know we want it just as bad, but we’re not showing it there. They wanted it more tonight,” Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour said.

The Kraken were without forward Freddy Gaudreau and defenseman Ryan Lindgren because of illness as a bug was going around the locker room. Adam Larsson didn’t participate in morning skate but played and has still missed just one game in his five seasons with the Kraken.

Then Jaden Schwartz was lost late in the first period when he was hit in the face by the skate of Ottawa’s Nick Cousins in a scary incident. Cousins was checked hard near the board by Eeli Tolvanen and the impact of the hit sent Cousins flailing and his legs upward, catching Schwartz in the face as he skated past. Schwartz was on the ice for several minutes and was dripping blood before skating off and going straight to the locker room.

Lambert said after the game that Schwartz was still being evaluated, but didn’t have any further information.

The absences left the Kraken missing some important pieces, but still didn’t excuse a first half of the game where Ottawa was faster, more aggressive and suffocated Seattle at the offensive end.

“Obviously, we lost some pieces, guys under the weather, Jaden going down. That doesn’t help,” Montour said. “But no matter what, sick or not, this is the best time of year to play hockey. This is why you play. And I think obviously us in here need to learn that pretty fast that we deserve to be in the position we’re in and we got to show up.”

Jacob Melanson staked Seattle to a 1-0 lead nearly halfway through the first period, scoring on a rebound after the original attempt by Ben Meyers was saved. But the early advantage came despite Ottawa controlling most of the play and Seattle’s lead lasted barely 30 seconds before Tyler Kleven answered for the Senators.

From there, Ottawa was the clear better team. Dylan Cozens scored later in the first period on a shot goalie Joey Daccord probably wanted back. Shane Pinto scored in the opening minutes of the second period and when Michael Amadio scored midway through the second after cutting unmarked in front of the net, the shots were 21-7 in favor of the Senators.

The Kraken started to match Ottawa’s aggressiveness and were rewarded when Tolvanen scored late in the second period to trim the deficit to 4-2. But whatever momentum Seattle had from late in the second period was gone when Daccord made a terrible turnover trying to play the puck up the ice early in the third period and watched one of Ottawa’s deadline acquisitions, Warren Foegele, score his first with his new team.

Barely a minute later, Tim Stützle scored his 30th of the season and when Brady Tkachuk scored with 12:36 left many Kraken fans started to head for the exits early.

Matty Beniers and Montour scored late for Seattle but they were cosmetic additions that made the final appear a bit less lopsided.

Daccord made 29 saves, but the seven goals against matched a career-high set last season against Utah. It also seemed curious that Daccord was not lifted for Philipp Grubauer early in the third period when things really got out of hand, especially with the numerous defensive breakdowns and two days off before Seattle’s next game on Tuesday night.

Lambert said he felt going into the third period the Kraken still had a chance to rally and keeping Daccord in the game was the best move. By the time the score got out of hand, it would have been unfair to Grubauer to ask him to enter.

“I think there’s some that (Daccord) would want back. Certainly, we left him hanging out to dry on a number of occasions,” Lambert said. “There was mistakes and breakdowns, and stuff that we really haven’t seen for a while.”

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