The Devils were 1-for-3 on the power play. The Capitals went 3-for-4.
"I think if you look at it, the difference in the game was special teams," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "We've got all the personnel we need. I think there was some good stuff I saw on the power play. We scored a goal. We did some good stuff for periods of time on the penalty killing, but then we had the crucial breakdown which really hurt us."
Travis Zajac, who entered the NHL in 2006 with the Devils, became the 66th player in NHL history to play 1,000 games with one team.
"It wasn't the result we hoped for. Nonetheless, it was a special moment for me and one I'll never forget," Zajac said. "The guys and the organization did just a great job really making it a memorable event for me. It's definitely something I'll never forget."
Carlson tied the game 2-2 with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle at 9:16 of the third period. It was the defenseman's first goal in seven games.
Oshie gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead at 11:53, scoring on a wrist shot from between the circles off a pass from Kuznetsov.
"I think everybody was feeling good when we scored a power-play goal," Ovechkin said. "It was huge for us, kind of give us momentum. You can see in the third period, we just play smart and wait on our chance, and when we have [Oshie] on our team, every time he's hot, he's hot."
Ovechkin scored a power-play goal off a pass from Oshie at 16:56 to make it 4-2. It was Ovechkin's 712th goal, moving him within five of Phil Esposito for sixth in NHL history.