Brett Connolly had a goal and an assist, and the Washington Capitals defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Tuesday night in Newark, N.J., to move into sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Andre Burakovsky, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington, which returns from a 2-2-0 road swing to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.

Nicklas Backstrom collected his 50th assist of the season, and Pheonix Copley made 20 saves for Washington.

Kenny Agostino scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 18 saves for the Devils, who have lost two straight.

The Capitals took a 1-0 lead at 2:52 of the first period when Burakovsky beat Blackwood glove side with a wrist shot from the left circle for his 12th goal of the season.

New Jersey tied the score on a broken play with one second left in the opening period. Agostino controlled a loose puck high in the slot and fired through traffic for the equalizer.

The Capitals broke it open with a three-goal second period.

Washington regained the lead on Connolly's goal at 5:57 when he tapped in a pass from Christian Djoos for his 20th goal of the season.

The Capitals have five 20-goal scorers with Ovechkin, Jakub Vrana, T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and now Connolly.

Washington went ahead 3-1 on Kuznetsov's 19th goal of the season at 12:16 of the second. Kuznetsov entered the Devils' zone two-on-one with Oshie, took the shot himself and flicked a wrist shot past Blackwood.

Wilson made it 4-1 when he converted a pass from Alex Ovechkin at 13:28 of the middle period.

--Field Level Media