Bakersfield Update: Philip Broberg and Carter Savoie return from injury, Xavier Bourgault continues to shine, and more

The Bakersfield Condors got some reinforcements over the weekend, as Philip Broberg and Carter Savoie made their season debuts on Saturday after starting the season on the shelf with injuries.

Broberg had been dealing with an upper-body injury that was suffered during training camp with the Oilers and Savoie suffered a lower-body injury during the Penticton Young Stars Classic back in September.

Both players had quiet games in Bakersfield’s 4-3 loss to the Ontario Reign. Broberg played on the team’s top defensive pairing with Jason Demers and was a minus-one and Savoie played alongside fellow rookie Ty Tullio and didn’t have any points or shots on goal. It’ll take some time for both players to get up to speed.

The star of the game for the Condors was Xavier Bourgault, who opened the scoring in the first period with a short-handed goal. It was Bourgault’s third goal of the season and second on the penalty kill. The first-round pick from the 2021 NHL Draft also had five shots on goal.

Another performance worth mentioning was that of blueliner Mike Kesselring. Edmonton’s sixth-round pick from the 2018 NHL Draft scored a goal and had three shots against the Reign and now leads AHL defencemen with four goals through six games this season.

Kesselring is a big defender who skates very well. He scored three goals in total over the course of 76 games in his first two seasons in the AHL, so this outburst offensively is a very exciting development.

The Condors are 2-3-1 on the season and currently sit eighth out of ten teams in the AHL’s Pacific Division.