Mercer Scores Lone Goal, Devils Fall To The Jets 6-1

Hopes of a Friday night resurgence flickered and faded at the Prudential Center on March 7th. The Devils, facing a determined Winnipeg Jets squad, struggled to find their rhythm. They ultimately succumbed to a 6-1 defeat, highlighting their ongoing struggles and extending their losing streak to three games, while the Jets secured their second straight win. Dawson Mercer scored the lone New Jersey goal, his 14th goal of the season, to help the Devils avoid getting shut out. Nikolaj Ehlers had a three-point night for the Jets, recording a goal and picking up a pair of assists to help pick up the two points. The Devils head to Philadelphia on Sunday to take on the Flyers before heading back home on Tuesday, while the Jets head to Carolina in hopes of extending their win streak to three.

New Jersey Devils Lineup:

Meier – Hischier – Bratt
Palat – Mercer – Tatar
Dowling – Haula – Noesen
Cotter – Lazar – Bastian

Hughes – Pesce
Dumoulin – Kovacevic
Dillon – Nemec

Markstrom
Allen

Winnipeg Jets Lineup:

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Ehlers – Namestnikov – Perfetti
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Barron – Gustafsson – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo
Samberg – Pionk
Stanley – Miller

Hellebuyck
Comrie

Late into the opening frame, Alex Iafallo got the party started for Winnipeg, putting them ahead 1-0 when he put in the rebound of a shot by Colin Miller, who fired from the right circle, off a backhand past Jacob Markstrom from the slot. Iafallo, who took a pass from Brandon Tanev, passed the puck to Logan Stanley from the left corner, and Stanley handed it over to Miller as Iafallo went in front of the net, putting in the rebound with 1:43 to play in the first period.

Josh Morrissey struck with an early power-play goal at 16:21 to make it 2-0 from the slot with a snap shot, burying the Nikolaj Ehlers rebound. Ehlers had tried getting it in from the right side, was stopped by Jacob Markstrom, and passed it to Kyle Connor, who got ahold of the puck along the right boards and sent it back over to Ehlers. He attempted to get another past Markstrom but was denied, the puck bouncing to Morrissey, who put it home. Later on into the middle frame, Ehlers ended up getting one in, pushing it to 3-0 for his 21st of the season and his third in the past five games when he received a pass from Dylan DeMelo from the bottom of the right circle, then skated to the high slot, scoring on a snap shot inside the left post with little time left to play.

Dawson Mercer put the Devils on the board 31 seconds into the final period when he fired a one-timer past Connor Hellebuyck from the left circle to cut it to 3-1 when he took a pass from Jonathan Kovacevic across, who passed back and forth with Ondrej Palat before getting it over to Mercer for the one and only New Jersey goal of the night. At 8:04, Adam Lowry made it 4-1 on a wrister from the left circle after he skated in and stole the puck from Simon Nemec for his 13th goal of the season. Kyle Connor scored for a 5-1 lead off a pass from Mark Scheifele, who carried it into the Devils’ zone before sending it over to him as he was skating up toward the left circle with 5:39 on the clock. Not long after the fifth Jets tally, Cole Perfetti stuffed one in for the 6-1 final when he scored on a shot at the right post at 3:06 of the third.

Dawson Mercer on how he saw each period, and what makes it difficult to get out of that hole they put themselves in against the Jets/league leaders: “We had some chances there, still in the game. It’d be different if we capitalized on some, and maybe get a lead before those chances. …We got that started. I thought first time we really put a lot of pressure on them. We had chances. The result shows what happened after that,” – “They’re a great team. They play the right way. Even at the end of the game, they’re still doing the simple things right, you know, that’s something we should really focus on. They simplified, but then when they got chances, they created opportunities. They capitalized. They’re a good team. Saying that, I believe we’re a good team too, and it’s disappointing for us to just have that result there when we can do better, for sure.”

Game Notes:

– In his Devils debut after being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, Brian Dumoulin had two hits in 16:17 of ice time.

– Jacob Markstrom made a total of 29 saves for New Jersey.

– In their past 15 games, the Devils are 7-8-0.

– NJ: 33-25-6, WPG: 44-16-4

– In his Winnipeg Jets debut after being acquired in a trade with the Seattle Kraken earlier on Friday, Brandon Tanev had two hits in 11:28 of ice time.

– Connor Hellebuyck made a total of 22 saves for Winnipeg.

– Both Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor recorded a goal and an assist. …With his two-point night, Connor hits 80 points in a season for the third time in his NHL career, marking the second-most in Jets/Thrashers history behind only Ilya Kovalchuk (4).