EDMONTON, Alberta -- Coming off an embarrassing 6-2 loss Thursday in Vancouver, Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz added Devante Smith-Pelly, who had zero goals so far this year, onto his top line with superstars Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Ovechkin.

Well, call the coach a genius. For a game at least. Smith-Pelly had a goal, and looked like he'd been on that line for years. Kuznetsov scored twice, including the game-winner, and Ovechkin had three assists as the Capitals scored the final five goals in a 5-2 victory over the Oilers.

"It's nice to see guys smiling after games," Kuznetsov said. " We feel like we played well starting from the first period; we just gave up some goals. But then we scored that late goal (in the first period, from Smith-Pelly) and that's huge for us. After that, you could see we had a lot of energy, a lot of power and it's just so nice to get those two points."

Entering Saturday's game, Alex Ovechkin had 10 goals and only two assists for the season. In his stellar career, he has almost 100 more goals than assists. Simply put, Ovechkin is a finisher.

But on Saturday, Ovechkin the shooter had three helpers for the first time since Nov. 2, 2014.

"Sometimes, magic happens, you know?" Ovechkin smiled.

Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made 38 saves.

The Oilers are 3-6-1, a dire record for a team that began the season as the bookmakers choice to win the Western Conference.

"There's nothing early about this, let's not kid ourselves," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We're an eighth into the season. There are a lot of points that have gone by and you never get them back. It's tough falling behind in a game, it's also tough falling behind in a season, we have a lot, a lot, of work ahead of us.

"We have to play better than we have, it's as simple as that. We don't have enough players playing at their capabilities to consistently win."

Patrick Maroon opened the scoring for the Oilers at 12:16 of the first period. He was right in front of the net to finish off the chance after Holtby gave up a juicy rebound off a shot from Connor McDavid.

Defenseman Adam Larsson doubled the lead at 17:55, cutting in from the boards, then surprising Holtby with a wrist shot over the goalie's shoulder.

The Caps, though, struck with just 17.8 seconds left in the first. Washington came in on a four-on-one break after the Oilers overcommitted at the other end -- and Smith-Pelly one-timed a pass from John Carlson for the goal.

"I didn't think we were playing too, too badly. But they had two, so it was important for us to try and get one at the end," Smith-Pelly said. "Carlson made a good play, I think everyone thought he was going to pass it to Ovi at the end, so maybe it caught guys a little bit surprised that it came to me. I just tried to get all of it and make sure it went in."

The Capitals tied it at 9:28 second. With an extra man on the ice because of a delayed penalty on the Oilers, Lars Eller got everything he could into a one-timer, ripping it past Oilers goalie Cam Talbot. That represented a bit of revenge for Eller, who was robbed of a goal in the first period when Talbot sprawled on his stomach and spread his pads out to stop the Eller's chance from close range.

The Capitals took the lead 30 seconds into the third as Kuznetsov tipped home a pass from Ovechkin. Kuznetsov twisted the dagger into the Oilers with 4:04 left as he came from behind the net and banked the puck off Talbot and in.

Jay Beagle added an empty-netter with 18.8 seconds left.

"It was just a very frustrating month," Maroon said. "I hope we can put this October behind us and move forward. Coming into November we're going to be playing every second day instead of waiting around between games. It stinks when you lose a game and have to sit around and soak it in."

NOTES: Oilers LW Jussi Jokinen played his 900th career NHL game. ... The Oilers scratched RW Kailer Yamamoto, RW Iiro Pakarinen and D Yohann Auvitu. ...Capitals RW Brett Connolly, who underwent the NHL's concussion protocol Thursday, did not dress Saturday. Also scratched were D Aaron Ness and LW Nathan Walker. ... Caps C Nicklas Backstrom returned to the lineup after missing Thursday's loss to Vancouver because of illness. ... Oilers G Cam Talbot remains stuck at 99 career wins, while C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is still at 99 career goals.