SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Sharks put the special back into their special teams Thursday during a 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals.

Logan Couture scored two goals, Brent Burns added three assists on his 32nd birthday, and San Jose went 2-for-5 on the power play and killed all five Washington man-advantage chances in running its record to 22-1-2 over the past 25 meetings against the Capitals.

"Our special teams won us a game. We haven't had many of those lately," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "We put a lot of work into it -- coaches and players. It was nice to get rewarded for that."

The Capitals, meanwhile, lost a second straight game as they opened a three-game trip in California.

"If you ask anybody, I don't think we're happy with the way we came out of the break," Washington winger Brett Connolly said. "We're looking to change that. Tonight we let them come at us a little bit. That's not our style. We just have to take a deep breath. We're still in a good place. We have a great hockey team, and it's a matter of finding it."

Burns moved into a five-way tie for second among the league's top scorers with 70 points. It marked the defenseman's first three-assist game of the season as San Jose won for the fifth time in six games.

"He's got an amazing shot," Washington winger Daniel Winnik said. "He has a huge reach. He changes angles a lot, and it's tough to get in the way."

Couture enjoyed his second two-goal game of the season. He redirected a Burns wrister from the right point past Washington goalie Braden Holtby for a power-play goal at 8:05 of the third period to give the hosts a two-goal edge.

"We watched a lot of video, and looked over stats the last couple of days," Couture said of the power play. "We wanted to work hard, support each other, find the guy in the middle and shoot the puck if we get it back."

Goalie Martin Jones made 25 saves to improve on his incredible career success against the Caps that includes a 4-0 record, a 1.00 goals-against average and a .963 save percentage.

"Right now things, aren't going in for us," Winnik said.

Washington jumped on top 5:26 after the opening faceoff, scoring eight seconds after San Jose killed the game's first power play while still trying to sort things out in the defensive zone.

Winnik backhanded his ninth goal of the season past Jones from in close after Jay Beagle fended off a defender to supply his teammate with a pass from behind the goal line.

Holtby (20 saves) denied Joe Pavelski on a quality chance from the slot, but San Jose continued to cycle, and when newcomer Jannik Hansen tossed a puck out front, Joe Thornton stepped into his ninth goal of the season at 8:43 to tie it 1-1.

Hansen enjoyed a terrific debut. In addition to his first point, he blended in well on the team's top forward line and helped keep the Capitals' potent power play off the board.

"I loved him," DeBoer said. "I thought he came as advertised -- energy, speed, penalty kill. I thought he fit in real good with Joe and Joe. He plays a man's game out there. He's really going to help."

The Sharks capitalized on the power play in the second period to take a 3-2 lead into the third.

With his back to the net, Pavelski scored for the 24th time this season. He tipped a Burns wrister between the legs of Holtby at 2:32 just as a double minor high-sticking penalty on the Capitals' Brooks Orpik expired.

Washington tied it at 14:40 when Connolly worked a give-and-go with defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk after forcing a San Jose turnover at center ice. Connolly scored his 14th goal of the season by redirecting Shattenkirk's feed as a pinching Burns left only Brenden Dillon back to defend near the goal.

Couture scored the go-ahead goal at 18:04 by pouncing on a rebound left of a Burns shot after Pavelski won an offensive-zone draw to Patrick Marleau.

"When your power play doesn't go right, you sort of second-guess yourself," Thornton said. "In a game like that, we just wanted to work hard for each other and work hard away from the puck."

NOTES: Sharks C Joe Thornton was honored pregame for recently collecting his 1,000th career assist. ... Capitals LW Alexander Ovechkin tied his career high by going without an even-strength goal for a 16th consecutive game. ... San Jose continues its six-game homestand against the Nashville Predators on Saturday. ... Washington visits the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. ... Washington LW Andre Burakovsky is not traveling with the team. He has missed 11 games with a broken hand. ... San Jose D David Schlemko missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... LW Marcus Sorensen and D Tim Heed, both rookies, were San Jose's healthy scratches, while D Taylor Chorney, C Paul Carey and D Nate Schmidt did not dress for Washington.