WASHINGTON -- Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella doesn't usually speak to his team after a game.

Thursday night was the exception.

After seeing their 16-game winning streak snapped 5-0 by Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals, Tortorella addressed the Blue Jackets.

"I usually don't go in the room -- win or lose -- all year long I haven't been in there," he said "but I'd be remiss, like I told them, if I didn't. That was one hell of a run by a hockey team. They should feel really good about it."

Holtby stopped 29 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Capitals got goals from five different players as Columbus failed in its attempt to match the NHL record of 17 straight victories, established in 1993 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Blue Jackets (27-6-4) hadn't lost since Nov. 26, when the Florida Panthers beat them in a shootout.

"Quite honestly I thought the first 30 minutes we were a good hockey club," Tortorella said. "We played well. We couldn't find a way on Holtby, he made some great saves at key times, and then we kind of lost ourselves."

Washington (24-9-5) took a 1-0 lead just over five minutes in and never looked back, getting a goal and an assist apiece from defensemen John Carlson and Nate Schmidt. Daniel Winnik, Andre Burakovsky and Justin Williams also scored, and Evgeny Kuznetsov had two assists.

Williams made it 5-0 at 5:36 of the third when he fired over Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky's shoulder from a tough angle for his 11th goal.

"I wanted to stop the streak," Williams said. "Who wouldn't want to stop a streak? I'm lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it."

Bobrovsky, who allowed five goals on 23 shots while looking to extend his personal winning streak to 15 games, was then lifted in favor of Curtis McElhinney.

"We have climbed on his back from day one," said Tortorella, who went down the bench and spoke to Bobrovsky when he came out. "He's a big reason why we go on this run.''

The Capitals won their fourth straight and are 11-2-2 over their last 15 games. They moved within five points of first-place Columbus in the Metropolitan Division.

"That's what makes their streak a little more impressive is we haven't done too bad," Carlson said, "but there's a big difference between playing good hockey like we have and then excellence like they have."

Holtby bounced back from being pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots against Toronto on Tuesday to pick up his 27th career shutout.

"It took a performance like Holtby's to knock us off," Columbus captain Nick Foligno said. "Things were just hitting him and we had chances, glorious chances that we seemed to shoot into him. Or even shots that were through screens and he just swallowed them up. Credit to him, he played outstanding tonight."

The Blue Jackets league-leading power-play unit was 0 for 5.

Columbus, which won the first two meetings this season before the streak began, outshot Washington 11-6 in the first period.

The Capitals broke on top at 5:06 of the period when Bobrovsky made a save on Jay Beagle in front, but Winnik came in to Bobrovsky's left and banged the loose puck high into the net for his sixth of the season.

"If we're going to be successful we need all four lines to produce," Washington's Nicklas Backstrom said. "Today we had a strong game from all four line so we've just got to keep it going."

Washington made it 2-0 midway through the period. Kuznetsov skated down the left side and dropped the puck back to Marcus Johansson. Johansson fired a centering pass that caromed off the streaking Carlson's skate and past Bobrovsky.

It was the first time Columbus trailed by two goal during the winning streak.

Early in the second, Holtby stonewalled Markus Nutivaara who was suddenly alone about 10 feet away, and stopped Nutivaara on the rebound as well.

The Capitals made it 3-0 at 7:28 of the second period, when Schmidt scored off his own rebound. It was his first goal since Jan. 7, 2016 -- a span of 67 games.

Burakovsky made it 4-0 with 3:33 left in the second.

NOTES: The Blue Jackets are tied for the league lead (with the Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers) with four players with 30 or more points. ... Columbus is the only team to rank in the top three in goals for (second) and goals against (third). ... G Sergei Bobrovsky played his 300th NHL game. ... Blue Jackets scratches were LW Marcus Hannikainen, D Dalton Prout and D Scott Harrington. ... Following his overtime tally Tuesday night, Washington winger Alex Ovechkin is tied with Jaromir Jagr (19) for first place in NHL history in overtime goals and tied with Steve Yzerman (94) for 10th place in game-winning goals. ... D Taylor Chorney was scratched for Washington.