WASHINGTON -- On the road, in a tight Sunday afternoon affair against one of the league's powers, the Columbus Blue Jackets of the past might have been content to play conservatively and escape with a point. These Blue Jackets, however, are a much different team.

Columbus took advantage of a late penalty as Alexander Wennberg scored a power-play goal with 53.6 seconds left to defeat the Washington Capitals 3-2, beating their Metropolitan Division rivals for the second time in five days and proving once again, they are playing to win.

"I just felt we were on our toes," Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. "We weren't trying to go in the back door and try to sneak out a point. Sometimes, you can get caught in, 'It's 2-2, we're on the road, let's just keep chipping it out.' I thought we were on our toes and that was a really important thing going on within our bench."

Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom was tagged with a controversial high-sticking penalty at 18:26 of the third period and the Blue Jackets utilized some nifty passing as Sam Gagner and Nick Foligno gave Wennberg a great look at an open goal for the game-winner.

"We had a lot of talk before the game that we wanted to get back to the shooting mentality and it came up big at the end of the game and it gave us a win," Wennberg said. "For the power play to get that, it's a good feeling."

It was not a good feeling in the Capitals' locker room, and for Backstrom, who argued the call on the ice and was still upset in the aftermath.

"The last two minutes if you get a penalty that's not a penalty, that's tough," he said. "I mean, you guys saw the replay."

With Columbus trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Brandon Dubinsky took advantage of a broken play and beat Washington goalie Braden Holtby with a nifty move to tie the score just 14 seconds into the period.

The Blue Jackets turned things over to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who finished with 18 saves to extended Columbus' franchise-best start to 10-4-2.

"I just think that we have confidence no matter what the time of the game is or what the score is," Dubinsky said. "We're confident that if we play the right way, we're going to tie the game up. It's a mentality thing, a confidence thing and just sticking with our game plan."

The late penalty put a damper on a strong game from Backstrom, who scored a goal and assisted on one to provide Washington's offense.

With the score tied at 1 midway through the second period and the Capitals in the waning seconds of a power play, Backstrom patiently skated in the zone looking for an opportunity. He then fired a pass that deflected off the stick of Blue Jackets left winger Matt Calvert and right to Capitals winger Alexander Ovechkin, who blasted it past Bobrovsky to give Washington a 2-1 advantage.

It was the eighth point in the last four games for Backstrom, who has 17 points this season.

Backstrom put the Capitals on the board at 3:11 of the first period with an innocuous shot that utilized a perfect screen by left winger Marcus Johansson. Briefly blinded as Johansson skated by, Bobrovsky allowed the soft puck to go right through the five-hole for a 1-0 Washington lead.

Columbus found the equalizer in the second period thanks to another fortuitous bounce. With Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik in the box for interference, the Blue Jackets power-play unit quickly took advantage. Left winger Nick Foligno's pass through the crease deflected off the skate of Washington defenseman John Carlson and past Holtby to even the score at 6:07 of the period.

"They played a solid game. We played a solid game. There's not going to be a lot of mistakes," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said.

Columbus has played just three division games so far this season and won all of them, beating the Capitals twice.

"These guys are a tough team at home, a really good team in general. For us to come here in the afternoon, sometimes these are weird games, for us to get two points out of it, get a late goal on the power play, for us to find a way to get it done there in the last minute of the game is huge, especially against a division team like this," Dubinsky said.

NOTES: RW T.J. Oshie (upper body injury) and C Lars Eller (upper body injury) were out of the lineup for the Capitals. Oshie has been classified as week-to-week with his injury. D Taylor Chorney was Washington's other scratch. ... Washington recalled C Paul Carey from AHL Hershey. He played in four games for the Capitals last season. ... Columbus recalled LW Markus Hannikainen from AHL Cleveland. He played in four games with the Blue Jackets last season. ... D Seth Jones (foot) practiced Saturday, and Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said Jones' return to the lineup could be sooner than expected. ... D Dalton Prout was Columbus' other scratch.