RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Carolina Hurricanes still have hockey to play.
There will be a Game 7 against the Washington Capitals, the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Canes, facing elimination in the Eastern Conference playoff series, refused to lose Monday, to bow out on home ice. Despite twice falling behind, they turned back the Caps, 5-2, in Game 6 at PNC Arena.
It will be back to Washington, where the Caps have won all three games at Capital One Arena, for Wednesday's seventh and deciding game.
Jordan Staal's goal at 3:51 of the third gave the Canes their first lead of the game. The big center planted himself in front of goalie Braden Holtby, wedging in between defensemen Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen and used his long reach to knock the puck in the net for a 3-2 lead.
Justin Williams made it a 4-2 lead with less than eight minutes left in regulation, the first of the playoffs for the Canes captain.
Warren Foegele, who has been in the middle of so much in his first playoff series, scored in the first period for the Canes _ his fourth of the series. Teuvo Teravainen's late second-period goal tied the score 2-2, setting up the Canes' big finish in the third.
Dougie Hamilton's empty-net score made it 5-2, Jordan Martinook with the assist, as the sellout crowd roared. Before long, they were taking a big bow.
The Caps believed they had tied the score 3-3 with 9:26 left in the third when Alex Ovechkin crashed the net and into goalie Petr Mrazek as Evgeny Kuznetsov was getting off a shot. The puck wound up in the net and the Caps wildly celebrated, but the goal was waved off and the call upheld on review.
The Caps scored twice in the opening period, Brett Connolly giving Washington a 1-0 lead in a series in which the team scoring first had won the first five games. When Ovechkin ripped a shortside shot past Mrazek, the Caps led 2-1 with 4:48 left in the second and regained some of the swagger from their 6-0 dismantling of the Canes in Game 5.
But the Canes got the kind of play from Sebastian Aho that has been missing most of the series. Separating defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler from the puck behind the Caps net, he found Teravainen charging in for the quick shot and score from the slot _ Teravainen's second of the series.
The Canes then killed off two Washington power plays in the second after tying the score. Williams and Nino Niederreiter were called for high-sticking, but the Canes' penalty killers took away passing lanes and cleared the puck successfully.
Canes fans were roaring soon after the first penalty kill. Williams had a breakaway and chipped the puck over a gambling Holtby and into the net. But the goal was quickly waved off as Williams tipped down the puck with a high stick before the score.
The Caps came an inch from scoring in the final second of the period, Tom Wilson redirecting the puck in front of Mrazek having it clip the crossbar. That came moments after after Mrazek made a strong stop on John Carlson shot.
Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour made a defensive matchup change in the second period, sending out Justin Faulk and Brett Pesce when Ovechkin was on the ice with Nicklas Backstrom and Wilson.
Foegele's goal came five seconds after the Caps had killed off a penalty. Hamilton had a shot blocked, but Foegele collected the puck and got off a spinning shot that beat Holtby to the blocker side.
The Canes had Martinook back in the lineup after he sat out most of Game 4 and then Game 5 with a lower-body injury. Injured forwards Andrei Svechnikov and Micheal Ferland skated Monday morning but did not play, and Martinook was a game-time decision.
