VANCOUVER - Sven Baertschi had two goals and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks downed the Washington Capitals 6-2 for their fourth straight victory on Thursday night.
Derek Dorsett, with his team-leading sixth of the season, and Bo Horvat each added a goal and an assist for Vancouver (6-3-1).
Thomas Vanek and Markus Granlund provided the rest of the offence for the Canucks, while Brock Boeser added three assists as the Canucks' 29th-ranked power play connected three times in six opportunities.
Anders Nilsson made 25 saves for his third victory in four starts.
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Chandler Stepheson, with his first NHL goal, replied for Washington (4-5-1). Braden Holtby allowed five goals on 22 shots before getting pulled with five minutes left in the second period in favour of Philipp Grubauer, who finished with seven saves.
Coming off a successful 4-1-0 road trip where Nilsson picked up shutouts in two of his first three starts after signing over the summer to be Jacob Markstrom's backup, the surprising Canucks showed zero letdown in grabbing a 3-0 lead in a dominant first period.
Vanek got things going at 12:53 with his fourth goal of the season when he batted a puck out of the air that Holtby couldn't corral with his glove.
Horvat doubled that advantage on a power play that was on an 0-for-10 run just 2:10 later when he tapped home a slick between-the-legs feed from Baertschi off a Boeser point shot for his fourth.
Granlund continued the onslaught with 1:17 left in the period when Dorsett separated Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov from the puck on the forecheck before centring in front off Kutznetsov and right to Granlund, who made no mistake for his second.
Already without injured forward Andre Burakovsky (fractured thumb) and defenceman Matt Niskanen (upper body), the Capitals were also minus centre Nicklas Backstrom because of an illness.
Washington came in 1-2-1 over its last four as the club continues to look for its identity in a new reality that, on top of the walking wounded, includes a younger roster after forwards Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams, and defencemen Nate Schmidt and Karl Alzner departed over the summer.
The Capitals came close to getting back into the game when T.J. Oshie rang a shot off the crossbar in the second period, but the Canucks put things out of reach with another power-play goal at 9:41 when the puck pinballed off Baertschi's skate and over the line for his third goal of the season and the 100th point of his career.
Washington's Devante Smith-Pelly hit the crossbar later in the period before Dorsett, who is coming off major neck surgery and has seen his role increase substantially under rookie head coach Travis Green, made it 5-0 with five minutes left in the period he scored his team-leading sixth goal on a wraparound.
With members of Dorsett's family looking on from a private suite at Rogers Arena, some fans in the upper bowl directed "M-V-P! M-V-P!" chants towards the grinding forward after recording his fifth goal in the last five games.
The signalled the end of the night for Holtby, and Kuznetsov responded 17 seconds later with his first on a shot that beat Nilsson low.
Capitals defenceman John Carlson hit the post behind Nilsson early in the third period — Washington's third time hitting iron — before Nilsson made a nice pad stop on Kuznetsov a few minutes later.
Baertschi scored Vancouver's third goal on the man advantage at 10:29 when he scooped a rebound past Grubauer for his fourth in three games after failing to connect in Vancouver's first seven outings.
In the lineup with Backstrom out sick, Stephenson scored his first NHL goal and point with 2:08 left in his 14th career game on a sharp-angle shot.
Notes: Capitals forward Brett Connolly left in the second period with an upper-body injury after a hit by Vancouver defenceman Erik Gudbranson and did not return. ... The Canucks are off until Monday when they continue a five-game homestand against the Dallas Stars. ... The Capitals visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday before travelling to Calgary tangle with the Flames on Sunday.
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