Let’s try again: What do the Hurricanes need to do in Game 6 to close out the Islanders?

It’s the trip no one with the Carolina Hurricanes wanted to make, but now they have to.

Heading back to Long Island for another playoff game against the New York Islanders was something the Canes hoped to avoid. Had they won Game 5 on Tuesday at PNC Arena, it wouldn’t have been necessary.

But the Canes couldn’t do it, couldn’t finish off the series. The Islanders won, 3-2, to force Game 6, and are back home hoping to win again, even the series 3-3 and force a Game 7.

“We’re still in good shape,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Wednesday. “We’ve got to go find a way. It’s going to be tough but all the games are tough. I know we’ll put our best foot forward.”

Here are six things the Canes need to do in Game 6 to avoid a Game 7:

Run the power play correctly

The Canes did score on the power play in Game 5. The problem: the goal didn’t count. After a coach’s challenge from the Isles, Stefan Noesen was ruled offside on the entry into the zone, negating the goal he would later score.

Officially, the Canes were 0-for-4 on the power play with five shots. That doesn’t work. Brent Burns hit the post — that doesn’t count. And the Isles surely will be looking for the Canes to try that backdoor play again.

In their Game 4 win, the Canes allowed a shorthanded goal. It didn’t matter then, coming late in a 5-2 win, but another in Game 6 could matter. The decisions need to be good ones.

Better play from the “KK” line

The Jesperi Kotkaniemi line has to be more of a factor at 5-on-5. Whether with Jordan Martinook or Noesen at left wing, Kotkaniemi and winger Martin Necas need to be more effective and manage the puck better.

Necas, the Canes’ top point producer in the regular season, has shown off his speed in flashes but also has had the puck knocked away from him a few too many times trying to make plays. A turnover in Game 5 resulted in the Isles’ Mathew Barzal scoring the game-winning goal.

“They’ve got to be better, no doubt,” Brind’Amour said Wednesday. “But we need everyone to play well. There’s no way around it. Hopefully we can get a little more out of those guys.”

Score first

The team scoring the first goal has won all five times in the series. In Game 4, it was the Canes’ Seth Jarvis scoring on a 5-on-3 power play. In Game 5, it was the Isles’ Pierre Engvall with the goal after a Canes turnover in their zone, Engvall going in alone on goalie Antti Raanta.

UBS Arena should be teeming Friday night. Imagine if the Isles score first again and the Canes have to chase the game again.

Next star up

“Next man up” doesn’t have to refer to a player stepping in for someone injured. It also can mean someone stepping up and giving his team an unexpected boost.

Mackenzie MacEachern, the AHL callup from Chicago, did that for the Canes in Game 4 with a goal and assist in his first playoff appearance with Carolina. In Game 6, it could be someone like … Jesse Puljujarvi?

Puljujarvi started Game 5 on the fourth line with Paul Stastny and Derek Stepan. By game’s end, he was with Sebastian Aho and Jarvis because of his energy and play.

Get through the game unscathed

The Canes lost forward Teuvo Teravainen to a broken hand in Game 2 after a slash from the Isles’ Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Forward Jack Drury was lost early in Game 4 after being boarded by Ryan Pulock.

When Aho took a puck in the face in Game 5 and was bloodied, it was feared he might be out for the game. Unlike the losses of Teravainen and Drury, which caused Brind’Amour to make line adjustments on the fly, Aho was able to get back in the game and scored in the third period.

Brind’Amour said Wednesday he had not spoken to Aho or seen him at PNC Arena, which he took as a good thing — that is, no further treatment needed. Brind’Amour said Drury, who missed Game 5, was skating Wednesday, calling it a “good sign.”

Pick the right goalie

Antti Raanta started five straight games — once — in the regular season. If he starts Game 6, it will be all six in the series.

Brind’Amour said before the playoffs began he might need both Raanta and Frederik Andersen, who alternated late in the regular season. That was before Andersen “tweaked something” — Brind’Amour’s words — after Game 1, although Andersen now is available and was the backup in Game 5.

Brind’Amour said there was some concern for the wear and tear on Raanta, adding, “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow (Thursday) and go from there.”

It has been Raanta’s net. With an extra day between games, he should be fresh Friday. But the workload is building, just like a year ago.