Mercer scores in 7th straight game, Devils hold off Avalanche

DENVER -- Dawson Mercer extended his goal streak to seven games and had three assists for the New Jersey Devils in a 7-5 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday.

The forward has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) during his streak. He has 20 goals in 60 games after scoring 17 in 82 as a rookie last season.
"They just told me [about the streak] out there actually, so it's a good feeling, obviously," Mercer said. "Every night when I go out there, I want to try to contribute offensively, but also be that responsible two-way player.
"But scoring goals is fun, and playing with Nico [Hischier] and 'Tuna' [Tomas Tatar], we've been having a great stretch right now and all contributing. And we just want to make sure we keep this going."

Tatar had a goal and two assists for the Devils (40-15-5), who have won five of six and started a three-game road trip.
Vitek Vanecek allowed five goals on 19 shots before being pulled at 1:26 of the third period. Akira Schmid made 12 saves in relief.
"You just go in there and try to make the first save to make yourself feel good, and I got into the game," Schmid said. "I just tried to play my game. Obviously, they're a good team. They're fast and good on offense, so [I] just tried to hang in there and somehow get the win."
MacKinnon scored twice, and Rantanen extended his goal streak to six games for the Avalanche (34-20-5), who had won six straight and seven of eight (7-0-1). Justus Annunen made 22 saves.
"New Jersey will make it real tough on you with their forwards and their skating ability and their swarm on the puck in all zones," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "So, if you're ready for that type of pressure and that sort of pack mentality that they play with, you can see that [in the] second period when we broke them down, we had a bunch of really good looks. We have to be harder and heavier early on and more engaged to check the puck back earlier on in the game."

Ondrej Palat gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 1:07 of the first period when he took a pass from Jesper Bratt down low and beat Annunen to the far side.
Nathan Bastian made it 2-0 when he jammed in a loose puck at 7:52, and Tatar scored at 11:27 when he one-timed a pass from Hischier to give the Devils a 3-0 lead.
"We were getting good bounces. Our pucks are going in, but I think our main goal is playing responsible," Tatar said. "That's how we were going into the game, and obviously if you score to help the team, that's a bonus. We've talked about having a good start. We knew how, in previous games, they were scoring in first two minutes. We were aware of it, so we wanted to have a good start."

MacKinnon scored for the fifth straight game with 14 seconds left in the first with a one-timer from above the left circle to make it 3-1.
Dougie Hamilton gave New Jersey a 4-1 lead at 3:13 of the second period, and Miles Wood scored on a power play at 5:53 to make it 5-1.
Colorado nearly tied it with three goals in 2:04.
Rantanen cut it to 5-2 at 7:32 when he tapped in a pass from Josh Manson. MacKinnon scored five-hole to cut it to 5-3 at 9:00, and J.T. Compher scored on a wrist shot from the left circle to make it 5-4 at 9:36.
"You're just chasing the game, and at some point, they're probably going to tighten it up, right?" Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano said. "They're up 5-1 and then it's 5-4, so you probably expect them to try to really hang on defensively, and obviously they did that. So, it's tough to come back when you're down 5-1."

Mercer extended his goal streak at 16:59 when he knocked in a feed from Ryan Graves to give the Devils a 6-4 lead.
Valeri Nichushkin cut it to 6-5 at 1:26 of the third period when he scored five-hole from between the circles.
Schmid relieved Vanecek after the goal, and Hischier scored into an empty net at 18:46 for the 7-5 final.
"I thought it was a heck of an effort, a heck of a game," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "I know we made some mistakes, but there was way too much like about the game. You hate to let a team get back in it, but when you've got a [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Mikko] Rantanen, and you've got players like that, you know they're going to get opportunities.
"I thought were resilient. We played a tough third period. We killed a big penalty off [a failed coach's challenge], and I thought we came out probably the best we've come out in the last 30-40 games."
NOTES: New Jersey got its 40th win in its 60th game, the fewest it has needed in franchise history (40 in 62 games in 2008-09). … Center Lars Eller was had one shot on goal and won six of 13 face-offs in his Avalanche debut after being acquired in a trade from the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. … The three goals in 2:04 were the fastest three Colorado has scored this season. … Compher played his 400th NHL game.