Marcus Sorensen, Julius Bergman lead beatdown of Condors

Marcus Sorensen scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season while Julius Bergman earned his 12th and 13th assists in a 7-1 win for the San Jose Barracuda over the Bakersfield Condors on Monday evening. Sorensen is by no means a young player at 24 years old but with 19 points in 32 games he has at least raised some eyebrows in his first North American season.

The Ottawa Senators drafted Sorensen in the fourth round in the 2010 entry draft but that relationship never worked out. San Jose signed Sorensen to an entry level deal this summer and the readers ranked him No. 10 in our top 25 players under 25 years old.

So let’s take a look at how those points have accumulated for Sorensen since he joined the Barracuda. The following chart shows his points per game over the course of the season. Of course the beginning of the season is a little ... scattershot ... but as of late Sorensen has seen his points per game take a turn for the best, which is encouraging.

Sorensen is up to 0.59 points per game; not exactly blowing the doors down in the AHL compared to other prospects but enough to garner attention. It’s worth noting the bar for success is quite low. The Sharks got him for nothing. If he turns into a fourth liner, Doug Wilson should be lauded for a savvy move. If he becomes an organizational player that gets a call-up now and again, that’s okay, too.

Bergman’s stakes, on the other hand, are a little bit higher. The Sharks took Bergman in the second round of the 2014 draft and he has already taken a major step forward in his second year with the San Jose Barracuda. Bergman scored 11 points in 60 games with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate in the 2015-16 season; he’s already topped that by scoring 14 points in half the time (30 games) this season.

So yeah, that’s a great step for the 21-year-old defender. This all comes with the disclaimer that points aren’t the only way to evaluate players in the AHL, of course. Still, you gotta like seeing a player double his point totals in a single season even when considering how much the talent has risen around him (a lot).

Barracuda 7, Condors 1

At San Jose, six players scored as the Barracuda moved within two points of first place in the Pacific. San Jose picked up two points on Ontario as the Reign also lost on Monday in a game where four Barracuda players had points.

Marcus Sorensen scored two goals, Julius Bergman bagged two assists, while Ryan Carpenter and and Barclay Goodrow had a goal and an assist each. Adam Helewka and Nikita Jevpalovs each had a goal while Colin Blackwell and Patrick McNally each picked up an assist. Jacob Middleton, Tim Heed, Alex Schoenborn and Rourke Chourtier also had assists.

Mantis Armalis allowed only one goal and made 22 saves. He brought his save percentage up to .908 and lowered his goals against average to 2.48 while picking up his 10th win of the season. It was a rough start to the campaign for Armalis but he has settled into his role in recent weeks, which is good news for the Sharks going forward. They next play at Bakersfield on Friday.