Dawson Mercer scored two goals, including the go-ahead marker in the third period, to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday at Canada Life Centre.
Mercer opened the scoring for Winnipeg at 7:54 of the first period with a wrist shot set up by Cole Perfetti. The Jets doubled their lead on the man advantage at 15:06 when Kyle Connor sent a wrist shot past Jake Allen, assisted by Perfetti and Mark Scheifele.
New Jersey responded rapidly early in the second period with two goals in a 44-second span. Jesper Bratt cut the deficit to 2-1 with a wrist shot at 1:14 off assists from Arseny Gritsyuk and Jack Hughes. Cody Glass then tied the game 2-2 at 1:58 by deflecting a shot into the net, assisted by Johnathan Kovacevic and Declan Chisholm.
Winnipeg regained the lead on the power play at 11:58 of the third period. Mercer notched his second goal of the night with a wrist shot off passes from Alex Iafallo and Viggo Bjorck. Connor secured the win at 19:02, scoring an unassisted empty-net goal with a wrist shot.
Special teams played a key factor in the outcome, with the Jets converting 2 of 4 power-play chances while the Devils went 0 for 4. Nico Daws stopped 19 of 21 shots to earn the victory for Winnipeg, while Allen made 21 saves on 24 shots in the loss for New Jersey.
The result extended Winnipeg's winning streak to four games, bringing its record to 8-8-3. New Jersey had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to 13-6-0 on the season.
Both teams return to the ice on Thursday. The Devils host the Washington Capitals, while the Jets visit the Dallas Stars.
