Sloppy second dooms Sens; lose 5-1 to Panthers

Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty ImagesTwo solid periods weren’t enough for the Senators tonight. Although the team managed to overcome a poor second period last night in Tampa Bay, they gave up two extra goals in the middle frame tonight en route to a 5-1 loss.

It was the tale of two games, with both teams having a slow, snoozefest of a first period. There were three icings in the first two minutes — including two by Christian Jaros — and outside of some slick skating by the Panthers’ Denis Malgin, there was nothing to write home about in the first 10 minutes.

The Sens’ engines started to churn later on in the period, with some great puck support nearly leading to Max McCormick’s first of the…