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Marcus Sorensen continues to surprise in playoffs

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Martin Jones was the star of the night as he backstopped the Sharks to a 4-0 win of the Golden Knights by making 34 saves in Game 4. Sharks and Golden Knights are now tied in the best-of-seven series.

The San Jose Sharks are two wins away from making it back to the Western Conference Final. They’re in this position because they’ve received contributions from their go-to players like Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, Tomas Hertl, Evander Kane and Martin Jones. One the players that’s exceeded expectations is Marcus Sorensen.

After scoring five goals and two assists in 32 games during the regular season, the 26-year-old has already racked up four goals and one assist in eight games this postseason. He didn’t even make the team out of training camp, as he started the year with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. Sorensen posted 18 points in 23 games in the minors, which led to him being recalled in early December. Once he arrived in the NHL, he was made a healthy scratch 15 times between Dec. 2 and Mar. 27. He suited up for the final five games of the regular season and he hasn’t been out of lineup since.

Despite his increased production in the postseason, Sorensen hasn’t been receiving more ice time from head coach Peter DeBoer (he averaged 10:08 in the regular season and 10:16 in the playoffs). Still, he’s managed to remain productive.
[NBC’s Stanley Cup Playoff Hub]

During Wednesday’s Game 4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, Sorensen opened the scoring with this terrific individual effort:

Outside of simply producing offensively, he’s also managed to use his speed to his advantage by creating scoring opportunities for his team.

Even though he’s never really been productive at the NHL level, Sorensen has put up numbers in the past. He accumulated 32 points in 50 games with Sweden’s Djugardens in 2014-15 and 15 goals and 34 points in 47 games with them the following season. So there’s a bit of an offensive pedigree there.

Sorensen won’t be able to sustain his shooting percentage of 50 percent, but his advanced stats have improved from the season to the playoffs. His CF% has gone from 48.71 percent to 53.33 percent and his FF% has climbed from 48.61 percent to 56.52 percent. His PDO of 1.135 would indicate that his offensive totals aren’t sustainable. Even if he doesn’t continue scoring, it looks like he’s earned himself a spot in the lineup.

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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.