Mar 5, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Florida Panthers center Jonathan Huberdeau (11) scores a goal as Dallas Stars defenseman Patrik Nemeth (37) defends in the second period at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight, the Florida Panthers are after their fourth win in the first five games. If they do that, Panther fans might just weep righteous tears of joy. The Panthers are already off to their best start to a season since 2011-2012, but winning four out of five would put this squad in company with the illustrious 1995-1996 Panthers.

The Panthers are coming off a win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, but the team didn’t look very convincing. Jaromir Jagr had two goals, but even he said, “we’ll need to be better Saturday to beat Dallas.” And that’s true, the Panthers have another gear and they know it.

Gerard Gallant’s roster will be relatively unchanged, but he announced this morning that Shawn Thornton will start in Connor Brickley’s place. Against a offense-heavy team like the Stars, it doesn’t make much sense to remove some offense from your own team, especially since Brickley has performed well. If Thornton can keep the energy up on the Panthers’ fourth line, hopefully Brickley’s absence won’t be so obvious.

The Stars are also 3-1 to start the season, and are carried by their potent offense. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza have looked fantastic to start the season. Ales Hemsky, Cody Eakin, and Mattias Janmark are providing plenty of secondary scoring to buttress the big guns for Dallas. And you can’t forget Patrick Sharp or Valeri Nichushkin, who are pointless so far but still lethal.

It’s crucial that the Panthers get excellent play from all three defensive pairings to keep the deep Stars offense at bay. Even more so, Roberto Luongo must be superb to stop the wicked snipes that Benn and Seguin consistently launch. His .959 SV% and 1.34 GAA are fantastic, but it will be difficult to keep up those stats against Dallas.

The Stars have split their goaltending starts evenly between Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen so far. Lehtonen has looked slightly better so far, however, and will likely get the start against the Panthers. He is no stranger to Florida from his days with the Atlanta Thrashers, and carries a .923 SV% and 2.52 GAA in 28 career games against the Panthers.

We’ll see what kind of performance the Panthers can conjure, but it’ll have to be a great one to expect two points. The Stars are a solid team, even in the ultra-competitive Central Division, and won’t go easy on the Panthers’ defensive corps. The Panthers will have to heed Jagr’s words and be better against Dallas.

What beer are we drinkin’? Unless I make an emergency run to the store (which I will), it looks like I will continue to chip away at these Goose Island Oktoberfests. It’s still a great Märzen, and is very crush-able (non-scientific term) for a day of college football.

What song are we singin’? “In The Street” – Big Star. Fans of certain period sitcoms should recognize this song, or at least the Cheap Trick cover. But this is the better version. Big Star is where the mythic Alex Chilton got his start, and with songs like these it’s a wonder why the band never achieved much more than cult status.