NEWARK, NJ -- Determined to end their four-game road trip on a positive note, the San Jose Sharks did just that Sunday afternoon, skating to a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center.

The Sharks (34-18-5) were 0-1-2 in the first three games of their trip out East, but Brent Burns scored twice, Joe Thornton added a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 21 saves to help guarantee a happy flight back across the country Sunday night.

"To end the trip with a real good complete performance makes for a nice flight home," said Sharks captain Joe Pavelski.

Cory Schneider, who stopped all 19 shots he faced in the first period and finished with 34 saves, gave the Devils (23-22-10) a chance, but his team was thoroughly outplayed for large swaths of time on Sunday.

The Devils, who were playing for the first time coming off their bye week, have just one victory in their last nine home games (1-6-2).

"I don't think it was the break," said New Jersey's Michael Cammalleri when asked if that was why his team was out of sync. "It's disappointing that we feel we had a chance to win a game that we didn't; but I am not going to say it was the break by any means."

Outshot by a whopping 19-3 margin in the opening period, the Devils somehow managed to carry a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. P.A. Parenteau scored on New Jersey's first shot of the contest, at 11:42, and the Devils killed off four San Jose power plays, including 1:42 worth of a five-on-three midway through the period.

Undeterred, the Sharks struck for three straight goals in the second period to secure a 3-1 lead.

"We got on a little run there, and that pretty much changed the game," said Thornton. "We were going pretty good, our forecheck was working pretty good; and we sealed the game right there."

Burns, who recorded five of San Jose's 19 shots in the first, wired a snap shot under the cross bar at 2:27 to bring the Sharks even. Then at 7:46, Burns snapped his second goal of the game, and 24th of the season, past Schneider from long distance to give the Sharks their first lead, 2-1.

"Both (goals) were kind of the same, good work down low, traffic, guys in front, and just shooting," said Burns, who now has 59 points on the season, two behind the league-leader, Connor McDavid of Edmonton.

At the time of his second goal, Burns was outshooting the entire Devils lineup by himself, 7-5. The pair of goals gives Burns 12 points in his last ten games (5-7-12).

"We wanted to key on (Burns) and make sure he didn't have an impact on the game," said Schneider. "But he did."

Thornton assisted on the first goal by Burns --the 996th helper of his career -- and then made it 3-1 San Jose at 11:22 of the second. Skating in between the circles, Thornton wristed his fifth goal of the season past Schneider as teammate Kevin Labanc picked up his second assist of the afternoon.

One minute before Thornton's goal, Jones robbed Devils rookie Pavel Zacha from in tight. Later in the period Jones came through again for the Sharks, denying a Stefan Noesen deflection during a Devils odd-man rush.

Though New Jersey made a push in the third period, Jones locked down the victory with several key saves, including one on Steven Santini late in the game.

Tomas Hertl scored into an empty net for San Jose to close out the scoring with 1:24 to play.

"To finish off this trip with two points was huge for us," said Thornton.

NOTES: Devils D John Moore returned to the lineup after a 17-game absence due to a concussion. ... D Kyle Quincey (upper body) missed his second straight game for New Jersey. .... Sharks LW Patrick Marleau appeared in his 599th consecutive game, while C Joe Pavelski played in his 471st straight contest. ... Sharks C Logan Couture returned after missing one game with an upper body injury. ... The Sharks scratched RW Joonas Donskoi, RW Marcus Sorensen, and D Tim Heed, while the Devils scratched RW Devante Smith-Pelly.