Dawson Mercer is beginning to find his footing with the Winnipeg Jets just weeks after being acquired from the New Jersey Devils.
Mercer will look to continue to take a step forward on Sunday evening when the Jets host the Tampa Bay Lightning, who will play their third game in four days.
Mercer was acquired on Oct. 23 as part of a blockbuster trade that sent goaltender Connor Hellebuyck to New Jersey.
After a sluggish start to the season that included a nine-game winless streak (0-7-2), the Jets have consecutive victories.
Winnipeg staged a historic comeback Tuesday, erasing a 4-0 deficit with four goals in the final 2:39 of regulation before defenseman Dylan Samberg scored 3:30 into overtime to complete a 5-4 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
The rally marked the latest four-goal comeback in NHL history.
The Jets followed that performance with a 6-2 home win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, with Mercer scoring his first goal for Winnipeg and adding an assist.
“It would have been easy to get caught up on what happened in Montreal and come out flat and let Vancouver play their game,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “We didn’t do that; everybody was ready to go and we got after them. It’s about building and stringing things together, but you have to play the right way to do it, and we’ve done that in a couple games in a row now.”
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay rolled to a 4-1 home win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday and posted a 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
The Lightning are coming off a rally of their own, overcoming a 3-1 deficit in the final six-plus minutes of regulation to defeat the Wild. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, who requested a trade last week, scored the game-winning power-play goal 3:23 into overtime.
Tampa Bay has won three straight games and has earned at least one point in six consecutive contests (4-0-2).
With Minnesota leading 2-0 less than three minutes into Saturday’s game, Lightning forward Scott Sabourin and Wild forward Marcus Foligno engaged in a lengthy fight. Both received five-minute fighting majors.
“We are just trying to assert ourselves physically,” Sabourin said. “That wears on teams.”
The Lightning power play has had a sluggish start this season. Tampa Bay entered the Wild game with nine power-play goals and a 17.3% conversion rate but showed signs of finding its form against the Wild.
“Our power play has started slow this year,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But it’s slowly picking up steam.”
Tampa Bay converted on 3 of 6 power plays, with Jake Guentzel, Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Kucherov each tallying a goal.
“It’s fun to score now,” D’Astous said on Saturday. “The last couple games we’ve found our way a little bit. Now we have to focus and be good tomorrow … It’s fun that finally the power play went our way.”
Both teams enter Sunday’s matchup riding winning streaks, but Winnipeg has had two days’ rest while Tampa Bay faces a quick turnaround following Saturday’s overtime victory.
