By TOM CANAVAN AP Sports Writer
NEWARK, N.J. — The Kings were less than one minute from a road win before suffering their second one-goal loss in three nights.
Red-hot Dawson Mercer scored his second goal of the game 2:30 into overtime and the New Jersey Devils rallied late to beat the Kings, 4-3, on Thursday night.
Tomas Tatar and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils, with Hischier netting the tying goal with 38 seconds left in regulation. Vitek Vanecek had 19 saves.
Anze Kopitar, Viktor Arvidsson and defenseman Sean Durzi scored for the Kings. Pheonix Copley made 27 saves.
Mercer, who has seven goals in five games, tipped a shot by Dougie Hamilton past Copley for the game-winner.
Hischier tied it when he tipped Jack Hughes’ shot past Copley with the Devils’ net empty.
Durzi put the Kings ahead 3-2 with 4:19 left in the third period. He skated in from the left point, took a pass from Kopitar and beat Vanecek for his seventh goal of the season.
Mercer and Tatar rallied the Devils from a two-goal deficit, setting each other up for goals late in the second period and early in the third.
Mercer, who hit the post in the first period, tied it 2:23 into the third, taking a drop pass from Tatar and beating Copley from the right circle. Mercer is riding a career-high five-game goal streak, giving him 17 for the season – one more than in his rookie season.
Kopitar and Arvidsson staked the Kings to a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Kopitar opened the scoring at 7:24, beating Vanecek on a breakaway by rolling a slow shot between his legs for his 20th. The Kings’ captain has goals in four straight games.
Arvidsson got his 17th of the season a little more than four minutes later on a 2-on-1 with Kevin Fiala. Vanecek stopped Fiala’s shot but Arvidsson put the rebound into an open net.
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NOTES
The 35-year-old Kopitar has a dozen 20-goal seasons since joining the NHL in 2006-07. …. Kings forward Adrian Kempe picked up an assist on Kopitar’s goal and has a career-high seven-game point streak (eight goals, four assists). … The Devils will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 2003 Stanley Cup championship on Saturday before a game with Philadelphia.
UP NEXT
The Kings play the Islanders in New York on Friday at 4:30 p.m. PT
More to come on this story.