Kings find that it’s still tough at home

The Kings seemed to have solved one problem -- porous goaltending -- only to lose to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday because of two other failings: a weak attack and curiously inconsistent work ethic.

Rookie goaltender Jonathan Quick continued his fine play by giving up only one goal, that during a power play late in the second period, before he was pulled in favor of an extra skater in the waning minutes. But his Columbus counterpart, 20-year-old Steve Mason, was even stingier.

Mason stopped 24 shots to propel the Blue Jackets to a 2-0 victory before an announced sellout crowd at Staples Center that chanted and outright begged the Kings to find the net. Most fans filed out in frustration when Rick Nash scored into an empty net with 1 minute 15 seconds left in the third period.

“I don’t think we played hard enough consistently throughout the game,” forward Patrick O’Sullivan said. “It’s tough. It’s so close and tight for the last couple playoff spots in our conference, and that’s the disappointing thing.

“We’re fairly even with these guys we just played, and we’ve almost got to start to approach things like it’s make or break, because you can go one direction or another this time of year.”

The loss made it increasingly urgent for the Kings to find a way to get some pop out of their offense and end an 0-2-2 home slump. Their next game is Saturday at Staples Center against the Philadelphia Flyers.

“That’s something that can’t happen,” O’Sullivan said of the Kings’ futility at home. “Every team that makes the playoffs has a good home record. It’s got to be a lot harder for teams to come in here and play against us.”

While Kings center Michal Handzus was serving an interference penalty, Kris Russell backhanded a bouncing puck past Quick’s glove at 18:36 of the second period for Columbus’ first goal. That was also the Blue Jackets’ first goal against the Kings in 186 minutes 39 seconds stretching back to last season.

The Kings had beaten the Blue Jackets this season twice by 3-0, the first time with Jason LaBarbera in net Dec. 6 at Staples Center and the second time last Tuesday at Columbus with Quick in net.

The goal was set up when Nash’s long shot from the right side flew into a crowd in front of the net, deflected off someone’s shin pad, and was almost gift-wrapped onto Russell’s stick.

Quick made 23 saves in his fifth consecutive start, looking poised and sure. He did his job, as he had done in his two shutouts and in a 2-1 loss to Phoenix on Friday. His teammates simply didn’t do their jobs well enough.

“I thought we played pretty solid defensively and [Quick] was really solid in net. They just got that one lucky bounce on the power-play goal,” said defenseman Drew Doughty, who played a game-high 26:02.

“We didn’t come out with the best effort. We have these four days off and hopefully we can take some time to think about it and come back with more of a playoff attitude and win a bunch of games.”

The Kings were outshot, 25-24, but that’s a reasonable shots-against total. And they did kill a penalty late in the third period to go two for three in the game. That one unlucky penalty kill proved to be the difference for the Blue Jackets, who are tied with the Kings in the second tier of the Western Conference at 36 points each.

None of this is really new.

The Kings knew before the season that they would be lucky to get much production at left wing on their top line and that they would have to hope some of their young forwards could step up and bear some of the scoring burden.

So far, those forwards have not chipped in enough. Teddy Purcell has one goal in 10 games since he was promoted from Manchester of the American Hockey League. Trevor Lewis has a goal and two assists in six games since being called up. Brian Boyle and Matt Moulson couldn’t come through in previous callups and are back in Manchester.

To be fair, the deficiencies aren’t limited to the kids.

Anze Kopitar, though leading the team in scoring, hasn’t had a goal in eight games. Dustin Brown, though always throwing bruising checks and making his presence known around the net, has scored only one goal in his last six games. Handzus is 0 for eight.

“The good thing, I guess, is that we have some time to put some good practices together,” O’Sullivan said. “Especially playing out West here, we don’t get a chance to do that all that much. So we’ve got to try and take advantage of the days we have to practice and try to improve there.”

If they don’t, this could rapidly become a very trying season.

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helene.elliott@latimes.com