Oklahoma City Barons rout Texas Stars

Oklahoma City pumped in four goals during the first period Saturday night and went on to rout the Texas Stars 6-2 before 3,179 fans in the Cox Convention Center. The Barons snapped a two-game winless skid, which included Friday's shutout loss to the same Texas team. Justin Schultz had two goals, both in the first period, and goaltender Yann Danis stopped 39 shots for the game to help the Barons go into Christmas break with a 14-10-4 record.

“That's a lot better than last night,” Nelson said. “We got off to a great start. We won the battles. We put the puck on net. We just worked extremely hard, and we kept on going the whole game.”

Which is why Nelson is sometimes left scratching his head. The Barons managed just 12 shots after two periods Friday night; Saturday night, Oklahoma City had 14 tries on net in the first period, which included Schultz's goals and one each from Taylor Hall and Tanner House.

The Barons' four-goal explosion in the first was the franchise's best since October 2011, when it had six tallies in the first period against Texas. What's more, Oklahoma City was so dominant Saturday that goaltender Christopher Nilstorp, who started the game riding two consecutive shutouts, was yanked after the first period.