It all started with Evgeny Kuznetsov giving Washington the lead after a few minutes, but after that it was just Vancouver.
With fifteen minutes played by the second period, the Canucks led 5-1 and by then the Swedish talent Elias Pettersson had managed to make the 3-1 goal.
Pettersson intercepted a loose puck and neatly shot it over the shoulder on Ilja Samsonov in the Washington goal. The Swede now has 3 + 8 in 10 matches in the NHL this season.
As good as Vancouver was up until then, they looked just as hopeless after the 5-1 goal. With a second left of period two, Kuznetsov set his second for the evening and in the third period it just floated for the Capitals.
Lars Eller made it 5-3 in numerical disadvantage and then Michal Kempny scored 5-5 with two goals within three minutes.
The match then went all the way to penalties and there Samsonov was founded by Pettersson who scored on his, but instead it was another Swede who decided the penalty when Nicklas Bäckström stepped forward and decided with a safe penalty behind Jacob Markström.