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 Eric Staal and Tuomo Ruutu each had a goal and an assist, and Scott Walker also scored for Carolina, which broke a 1-all tie by scoring four straight goals. The Hurricanes lead idle Washington by two points in the Southeast race with one game left. The Capitals have two games remaining.
The Hurricanes could wrap up the division crown and the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by beating Florida on Friday in the regular-season finale or by having the Capitals lose one of their final two games in regulation.
Martin St. Louis had a goal and an assist, Jeff Halpern scored and Mike Smith stopped 26 shots for last-place Tampa Bay, which lost its second straight. The Lightning allowed two power-play goals after being perfect on the penalty kill during their previous four games.
Cam Ward turned aside 23 shots in his career-best 19th straight start, the longest streak by a Carolina goalie since Arturs Irbe started 26 consecutive games from February-April 2001. The Hurricanes snapped a two-game slide that put their once-secure playoff position in peril.
They frittered away most of the six-point division lead they had with six games left after the Capitals beat them in a shootout last week and then topped them 4-1 Tuesday.
LaRose, who returned after missing 21 games with a broken left leg, has generated some offensive punch with four goals in two games against the Lightning.
He put Carolina ahead to stay with about 4 minutes left in the first. After Staal threw the puck on net, LaRose poked it past Smith to make it 2-1. The lead grew to two goals early in the second when Joe Corvo's slap shot clicked off Ruutu, and LaRose tapped in the rebound for his first two-goal game since scoring twice last season against New Jersey.
He completed his first NHL hat trick by beating Smith with a backhand with 1:39 left.
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Staal got the Hurricanes started early, scoring 32 seconds into the game when he collected a loose puck in the defensive zone, brought it up the right boards and snapped the puck past Smith for his 37th goal. He scored in the opening minute for the second straight home game. His goal 42 seconds in set the tone for last week's 7-1 rout of Atlanta.
Staal has three goals and 12 assists in his last seven home games, and the Hurricanes are 6-0-1 in that span.
Tampa Bay briefly tied it midway through the period when St. Louis capped a pretty sequence with a power-play goal. He took a nifty pass from Jussi Jokinen and beat a diving Ward high stick side for his 25th goal.
Notes: C Vincent Lecavalier had two assists for the Lightning, and LW Erik Cole and D Dennis Seidenberg each had two assists for the Hurricanes. ... Carolina scratched RW Justin Williams one night after he returned from a knee injury that cost him 43 games. He left Tuesday night's game at Washington early with a torso injury. ... Trevor Letowski's assist on LaRose's first goal was the 200th point of his NHL career. ... The teams split the season series 4-4.
[Associated Press; By JOEDY McCREARY]
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