Mercer extends point streak to 12, Devils defeat Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Dawson Mercer extended his point streak to 12 games, and the New Jersey Devils held off the Montreal Canadiens for a 3-1 win at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Mercer, who had an assist, has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) during the streak.
"He's playing a great 200-foot game right now," Devils forward Tomas Tatar said. "He's very good at every zone in the ice, and it's fun to watch him."
Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist, and Akira Schmid made 23 saves for New Jersey (43-16-6), which is 6-1-1 in its past eight games.
"They're a better group than their standings show, I think, so it's a good game for us," Devils defenseman Ryan Graves said. "You need to win these games this time of year. The points are huge for us right now."
The Devils are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday and have one game in hand.
New Jersey hosts Carolina on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, MSGSN, BSSO, ESPN+, SN NOW).
"It's a huge game," Graves said. "You circle these ones on your calendar. You're looking forward to it.
"Both teams coming in on a back to back. This is going to be a good test for our group. I'm sure they're kind of thinking the same thing."

Denis Gurianov scored, and Jake Allen made 34 saves for Montreal (26-34-6), which has lost six straight (0-4-2).
"I thought after the first period we still played pretty solid," Allen said. "Another close loss, but I think there's again some good things we can take away from this game. It's been tough, obviously, to find a win, but we're still playing some decent hockey despite our record."
Devils coach Lindy Ruff was impressed with Allen and the Canadiens despite their record.
"I thought Allen was good. I thought he made some good saves," Ruff said. "I thought we missed the net on a couple, but I'm going to give Montreal a lot of credit. They blocked a lot of shots, they did a great job in lanes. You know, a lot of times they kept us to the outside, so I thought their [defensive-zone] structure was good."
Nathan Bastian gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 8:24 of the first period. He curled out front and scored short side between Allen and the left post after Miles Wood knocked Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle off the puck behind the net.
Hischier made it 2-0 at 18:59 when Damon Severson's backdoor pass deflected in off his skate.
"I think the first half of the game we turned a lot of pucks over in the [offensive zone] and through the neutral zone, and they really thrived off that," Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki said.
Gurianov got Montreal to within 2-1 at 18:23 of the second period. He scored with a one-timer near the left hash marks after Rem Pitlick stole the puck from Severson in the left corner.
Tatar shot into an empty net with 1:30 remaining for the 3-1 final. His goal came shortly after Jonathan Drouin hit the post at the other end.
"It was a tough game but it shows our maturity," Tatar said. "We stuck with it and we stayed composed and kept playing our way and finished the game."
NOTES:Mercer's point streak is the longest by a player at the age of 21 or younger in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history. It is also the fifth-longest point streak by any player in their history, behind Taylor Hall (19 games in 2017-18), Patrik Elias (15 in 1999-00), Brian Gionta (15 in 2005-06) and Petr Sykora (13 in 2000-01).