LOS ANGELES_There's been no place like home for the Los Angeles Kings this season.
That's not a good thing, though, because of the 11 teams still in the running in the tight Western Conference playoff race, only the Calgary Flames have a worse home record.
Yet it's also a trend that may be ending for the Kings, who rallied Thursday night for a 5-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets to extend their modest winning streak to three games _ with Jeff Carter scoring a goal in all three.
It also gave the Kings four wins in their last six games at the Staples Center, where they will play 11 of their final 17 games, and marked a positive start to a five-game homestand that equals their longest of the season.
"Part of the issue at home is that we've been coming off road trips and right back into games again," Kings coach John Stevens said before Thursday's game. "As a player that sometimes can be difficult because you're off the road and you feel like you can relax for a day, but you can't. You have to be ready to play again.
"The games are important, the teams coming in here, there's a lot at stake. I just think the focus on playing a simple game early, managing the puck early and getting involved in the heavy part of the game right away, whether at home or on the road, is going to be important."
Tanner Pearson scored what proved to be the winner on a power play late in the second period, erasing what had been a 2-0 deficit. The Kings also got two goals from Alex Iafallo and one each from Nate Thompson and Carter.
Cam Atkinson and Seth Jones scored in the opening period for Columbus.
The Kings, who have given up 62 first-period goals, hadn't even broken a sweat before falling behind Thursday.
After an Anze Kopitar turnover deep in the Kings' own end, Columbus' Artemi Panarin wound up with the puck behind the net, then made a nifty back-hand flip to set up Atkinson's goal at 3:41.
The shot was Columbus' sixth of the game. The Kings didn't get their sixth shot until the final five minutes of the period.
By then the deficit had doubled with Jones beating Kings goalie Jonathan Quick high to his stick side from the high slot at 13:33.
And that brings us to another trend because no team in the NHL has erased more first-period deficits to win than the Kings, who did it for the 11th time Thursday.
Thompson and Iafallo started the comeback, scoring a pair of early second-period goals to pull the Kings even.
Thompson's goal, his first as a King, came just 2:48 after the intermission when he a wristed a shot from the right-wing boards off the far post and into the net. Iafallo tied the score less than three minutes later, tipping in the rebound of a Christian Folin shot.
Pearson then put the Kings ahead to stay with a power-play goal, redirecting a Drew Doughty slapshot with 3{ minutes left in the period.
Carter, who returned from injury less than a week ago, added to the lead with a shorthanded goal midway through the third period before Iafallo closed out the scoring.
