EDMONTON, Alberta -- Never get into a shootout with somebody who has more weapons and bigger guns.

It's a lesson the Washington Capitals taught the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night in a 7-4 victory at Rexall Place.

Center Evgeny Kuznetsov led the red-hot Capitals with three goals and two assists in their fifth straight win.

"It feels unbelievable," Kuznetsov said. "It's thanks to my linemates. But the team game is more important to me. I'm just happy with how we are doing right now."

The win improved Washington's record to 6-1 and gave the Capitals a sweep of their three-game trip through western Canada.

"We knew it was a big road trip for us; it was our first road trip," Capitals right winger Alex Ovechkin said. "We're obviously happy to take these points. We won and that's what we need to do. It was great to get these six points on the road.

"They (the Oilers) are a skilled team and we showed them how skilled we are as well."

The Oilers, who came into the game with a three-game win streak, fell to 3-5.

"They're a very talented team and they took advantage of a team that was sloppy in a lot of areas," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "We overwhelmed ourselves with stupidity in some situations. Too much easy play all over the rink."

It was a goal-fest from the beginning, which is exactly what the Capitals wanted.

"We knew it was a firepower team that was looking for odd man rushes and we let it happen," Oilers left winger Taylor Hall said. "They have a lot of skill and they're going to bury those.

"They have a lot of firepower up front and we didn't combat that with strong, heady plays. We tried to play like them a little bit and that's what they wanted."

Washington opened the scoring when Kuznetsov got behind the defense at 3:05 of the first period.

Edmonton tied it on a goal from left winger Benoit Pouliot at 10:59.

The Capitals jumped back in front when center Nicklas Backstrom scored 35 seconds into a power play at 12:07. Again, the Oilers fought back to tie it with left winger Rob Klinkhammer's first goal of the season at 15:00.

The Capitals made it 3-2 on left winger Marcus Johansson's goal at 19:39 of the first period.

The Oilers answered yet again on a power-play goal by rookie Connor McDavid just 36 seconds into the second period. It was the center's eighth point in eight games.

The Capitals pulled away with three goals in five minutes to take a 6-3 lead. Kuznetsov scored on a breakaway, left winger Andre Burakovsky made it 5-3 and right winger Justin Williams found the net at 11:49.

"They made it hard for us," Backstrom said. "But in the second and third period, we played better and tightened things up. I think that's why we were able to close things out."

The three quick goals spelled the end for Oilers goalie Anders Nilsson, who gave up six goals on 17 shots. But three were breakaways, two were back-door tap-ins and the other was deflection from the slot.

"We weren't ready to play and we made it pretty easy on them," Edmonton defenseman Eric Gryba said. "When you're playing against the best players in the world and you give them easy nights, they're going to look good and they're going to play good. It was far too easy a game for them."

Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made it 6-4 at 14:42 of the second period and Kuznetsov capped his banner night at 16:59

NOTES: The Oilers sent RW Andrew Miller back to AHL Bakersfield after a one-game audition and recalled RW Iiro Pakarinen. ... With D Griffin Reinhart injured, former captain, D Andrew Ference, played his second straight game after spending five of the first six in the press box. ... Oilers RW Nail Yakupov, after going a league-worst minus-68 over the last two seasons, went plus-one in his first seven games this season. ... Five goals in his first five games was the longest goal streak to start a season in RW Alex Ovechkin's career. His game-winner Thursday in Vancouver was his 81st, putting him fourth among active players. ... The Capitals rank first in the NHL in shots against per game (24.3). ... With Washington playing the second of back-to-back games on the road, G Philipp Grubauer made his first start of the season.