Dawson Mercer had a goal and three assists, Tomas Tatar had a goal and two assists and the New Jersey Devils beat the Colorado Avalanche 7-5 in Denver on Wednesday night.

Nico Hischier and Miles Wood each added a goal and an assist for the Devils. Ondrej Palat, Dougie Hamilton and Nathan Bastian also scored, Michael McLeod had two assists and Vitek Vanecek turned away 14 shots before being replaced by Akira Schmid early in the third period. Schmid had 12 saves.

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist, Mikko Rantanen had a goal for the sixth straight game and J.T. Compher also found the back of the net for the Avalanche.

Artturi Lehkonen and two assists and Justus Annunen stopped 22 shots for Colorado.

New Jersey winger Timo Meier, who was acquired from San Jose on Sunday, was scratched, delaying his debut with the Devils.

Lars Eller, traded to the Avalanche from Washington on Wednesday morning, made his debut and was on the ice when Palat scored at 1:07 of the first.

Bastian scored his fifth goal of the season at 7:52 and Tatar’s one-timer at 11:27 gave New Jersey a 3-0 lead.

Colorado got one back when MacKinnon’s blast from the top of the left circle beat Vanecek at 19:46 of the first.

Hamilton made it 4-1 with his 18th marker at 3:13 of the second period, and 2:40 later, Wood gave the Devils a 5-1 lead with his 10th.

The Avalanche responded, though. Rantanen tipped in Josh Manson’s feed at 7:32 for his 41st goal of the season, and MacKinnon got his second tally of the night and 24th of the year at 9:00. Just 36 seconds later, Compher beat Vanecek high to pull Colorado within one.

The Devils answered late in the period when Mercer scored at 16:59, is 20th goal of the season, to extend his goal streak to seven games.

Nichushkin’s 11th marker of the season at 1:26 of the third made it a one-goal game and chased Vanecek.

Hischier scored into an empty net at 18:46, his 26th goal of the season.

–Field Level Media