Mercer, Devils rally for OT victory against Kings

NEWARK, N.J. -- Dawson Mercer scored his second goal of the game at 2:30 of overtime, and the New Jersey Devils rallied for a 4-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Mercer took a pass from Dougie Hamilton in the slot and scored on a redirection for his seventh goal during an NHL-career high five-game goal streak.
"When you're out there with some pretty good players like Dougie and Jack [Hughes], I want to make sure I get myself open and Dougie found me and it went in the back of the net," Mercer said. "It was a lot of excitement. We stuck with it, we never gave up, and obviously we capped it off there in overtime."

Mercer's first NHL overtime goal came after Nico Hischier tied it 3-3 with 39 seconds remaining in the third period. With goalie Vitek Vanecek pulled for an extra attacker, Hischier redirected a pass in the slot from Jack Hughes.
Mercer had three points, Tomas Tatar had a goal and an assist, Hamilton had two assists and Vanecek made 19 saves for the Devils (38-15-5).
"I was hoping Jack just sends it in front of the net and I got a good little tip on it, and it worked out just like I had it in my head," Hischier said. "So, that's definitely good thing."

Anze Kopitar and Sean Durzi each had a goal and an assist, Kevin Fiala had two assists, and Pheonix Copley made 28 saves for the Kings (32-19-8), who lost their second straight after a four-game winning streak.
"It's a good point, but at the same time, it's disappointing having the lead very late in the game and giving it up," said Kopitar, the Los Angeles captain. "Obviously we'll take the points, but we can't be just happy with just the one point."
Kopitar gave the Kings a 1-0 lead on a breakaway at 7:24 of the first period when he controlled a lead pass from Durzi and backhanded the puck between Vanecek's pads.

Viktor Arvidsson made it 2-0 at 11:35, scoring on a rebound at the bottom of the left face-off circle off a 2-on-1 with Fiala.
Tatar cut it to 2-1 at 16:44 of the second period on a backhand from the slot after Mercer stole the puck behind the net.
Mercer tied it 2-2 on a snap shot from the right hash marks at 2:23 of the third period.
Durzi gave the Kings a 3-2 lead at 15:41 on a shot at the left post off a backdoor pass from Kopitar.
"There's not a lot of teams that come into this building or play against that team that leave with points," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "On the other side of it, it is disappointing we couldn't get the last 30 seconds done, but we have to give them some credit too. They broke us down and they made a nice play to the net."
The Devils have an NHL-best 21 comeback wins this season; their record is 23 (2017-18).
"I think we've had a great tendency to deal with adversity, hunker down and overcome bad plays," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "So, to come back from 2-0 ... they're a tough team to generate chances. They're a very well-structured team, so you've got to give our guys a lot of credit."
NOTES:Kopitar, who has scored in four straight games, reached 20 goals for the 12th time, tying Marcel Dionne, Luc Robitaille and Dave Taylor for the most in Kings history. … Los Angeles forward Trevor Moore is day to day after he was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. He was replaced by center Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who had two blocked shots and was minus-2 in 5:35 of ice time. ... Mercer has an NHL career-high 18 goals; he scored 16 as a rookie last season. Mercer tied Hischier (Dec. 28-Jan. 5) and Hughes (Dec. 30-Jan.7) for the longest goal streak by a Devils player this season.