Devils 4, Blackhawks 2: It takes a village

No Jack Hughes. No Nico Hischier. No problem. The Devils got contributions all throughout the lineup en route to a solid road win.

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A few observations from New Jersey’s road win over Chicago:

Mercer is alive!

Dawson Mercer has slowly but surely trended in the right direction of late. His underlying numbers have improved, his shot contribution outputs have increased, and he has looked like a more confident player.

With Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier out of the lineup, Mercer was thrust into a top line role against Chicago. Finally, it all came together for him.

Mercer provided the Devils with arguably his best game of the season – and not just because he finally found the scoresheet.

He scored a nice power play goal early on, accepting a puck down low and driving it towards the net before going top cheddar.

Mercer generated four shots on goal, most of which came from close to the net. He was able to pass the puck into high-danger areas on multiple occasions, most notably setting up Timo Meier for some dangerous shots on goal (and a post).

He also played more than anybody up front on the penalty kill, helping keep the Blackhawks off the scoreboard over his ~2 minutes of shorthanded ice.

His on-ice metrics were solid, he generated seven primary shot contributions across all situations, he scored a goal, and he attacked the net. All of those things are very encouraging signs.

Erik Haula is an awesome 3rd line center and Mikey McLeod is handling himself as well as you could hope in a top-6 role. The Devils desperately need Mercer, though. He has the best track record of production and highest ceiling of any center in the lineup.

Lindy Ruff needs Mercer to play a big role right now and, on Sunday night, he sure looked ready to handle it.

Bus drivers remain