For the first time in their history, the Capitals tied a series 2-2 after losing the first two games at home. Each home loss came in overtime before they won 3-2 in double overtime in Game 3 here Tuesday.
"We've been a confident group all year," said Holtby, who made 23 saves in his second straight start after backing up Philipp Grubauer for the first two games. "... I don't think we ever doubted ourselves that way. We came into this building with the right mindset to have success against this team here."
Ovechkin scored his third goal of the series, first at even strength, to put the Capitals up 3-0 at 2:49 of the third period. Boone Jenner tipped in a Josh Anderson shot to make it 3-1 at 6:22.
Kuznetsov scored his third of the series into an empty net with 2:19 left for a 4-1 lead.
Columbus struggled to get its power play set up in the Washington zone and did not have a shot on goal after Kuznetsov was called for tripping Zach Werenski 34 seconds into the game.
"For some reason, you could see it from the first shift right into our early power play," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We looked nervous right on through. I don't know why. It was just a struggle. That's called a good old-fashioned laying an egg right on throughout the lineup. It was unexpected. It happened."
Wilson made it 1-0 at 6:16 of the first period off a broken play. The Capitals have scored first in each of the four games.
Sergei Bobrovsky made a save on John Carlson and sprawled to stop a Chandler Stephenson rebound attempt. The puck was almost on the goal line behind Bobrovsky (29 saves) when Blue Jackets forward Thomas Vanek swept it away with his glove. Kuznetsov got the puck and passed to Wilson above the right circle for a one-timer.
"They're always working hard. They're a team that's going to put their heads down and work," Wilson said of Columbus. "You give us credit tonight. We took that away from them. We obviously get a couple of big goals and played pretty much the whole game with that goose egg up there."
Oshie made it 2-0 at 9:19 of the second on Washington's third power play, scoring on a wrist shot from the slot after Bobrovsky made two saves on Ovechkin.
