Downtown Winnipeg had the feel of a playoff night on Tuesday, and Dawson Mercer made sure the Devils felt the heat.
Mercer scored twice against his former team, helping the Jets shake off a blown lead and finish off New Jersey 4-2 in a game that carried plenty of edge from the start. The atmosphere had already been building around the expected return of Connor Hellebuyck, but that storyline changed after his shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday left Jake Allen in net for the Devils instead.
Even with Hellebuyck no longer in goal, the crowd still made its point. He skated in during pre-game warmup and got an earful, then the noise only grew louder once the puck dropped.
Less than 20 seconds into the game, chants of “Where is Connor?” were already rolling through the building.
Winnipeg fed off it immediately. Mercer opened the scoring with his second goal as a Jet, putting the home side ahead 1-0 just eight minutes in.
Later in the period, with two Devils in the penalty box, the Jets struck again. Kyle Connor buried his 14th of the season by banking the puck in off a net-front defenceman, with Cole Perfetti picking up his second assist of the game and Mark Scheifele adding the other helper.
By then, the crowd was fully locked in, and the jeers kept coming as the night wore on.
But the Jets didn’t exactly cruise from there. Winnipeg came out flat in the second period and gave up two goals in the first two minutes.
Jesper Bratt scored at 1:14, and Cody Glass tied it at 1:58 for the visitors. Johnathan Kovacevic and Declan Chisholm assisted on Glass’s goal.
New Jersey outshot Winnipeg 17-13 through 40 minutes and had turned the game into a grind after the Jets had built that early cushion.
The difference came late in the third, when the Devils were finally whistled for too many men. Mercer made them pay again, taking a pass from Alex Iafallo and beating Allen for his second goal of the night. With the secondary assist, Viggo Bjorck extended his point streak to three straight games, giving him four assists in that span.
The Devils pulled Allen for the extra attacker, but couldn’t cash in. Bjorck then came within half an inch of his first career goal when he hit the post, and Connor closed it out with an empty-netter for his 15th of the season.
Mercer called the night a memorable one afterward.
“I think obviously the energy was pretty crazy, especially how we finished the game," Mercer shared post-game. "We came back that third period was pretty nice.
And then the chants were pretty special. I haven’t heard that before, so that was good.”
“It was great," Mercer laughed. "Obviously, to get the first one and then the cherry on top for another one at the end definitely made my night.”
He also had praise for Allen, who stopped 21 of 24 shots.
“He's great,” Mercer said of his longtime goaltender.
"I think he showed his potential there tonight. He had a good game.
He stayed calm, especially when we got in that tight game at 2-2. And he’s been working a lot.
I’ve seen him in New Jersey plenty of times. And he definitely showed off what he can do here tonight.”
Nico Daws made 18 saves on 21 shots for Winnipeg, which now heads out on a two-game road trip to Dallas and Chicago on Thursday and Saturday before returning home next Tuesday to face Ottawa.
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