ST. LOUIS -- Coming from behind has been a familiar occurrence for the St. Louis Blues this season, and it happened again Saturday night.

Trailing after the first period for the ninth time in 24 games, the Blues tied the score on a goal from right winger Vladimir Tarasenko in the second period before right winger Scottie Upshall put them ahead with a third-period goal, sending the Blues to a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Blues are now 4-4-1 when they trail after the first period. They have only led after the first period in five games and have given up the first goal in four of their last six home games and in seven of their 11 games at home this season.

"My concern is our starts," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We don't get to our game as quickly as any coach would like and I think it's something we've got to talk about.

"I think we do a lot of good stuff based on spirit and we did it again today. It gets wearing after a while when you are mounting comebacks all the time. It feels like we've been down a lot in the first period and then we keep mounting comebacks and getting points.

"We can make it easier on ourselves if we get to our game a little quicker. ... We're having to really amp it up and really drag ourselves into the fight, which is exactly what we did in the second period."

The Blues put a season-high 18 shots on goal in the second period and got the tying goal from Tarasenko, his 14th of the year, on a power-play 2:09 into the period, offsetting the first-period goal from center Ryan Johansen.

The score remained tied, even after the Blues had a two-man power play for 1:13 late in the second period, until Upshall was able to beat goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with a wrist shot from the slot 6:02 into the third period.

Left winger Alexander Steen added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds to play.

Upshall, who signed with the Blues as a free agent before the season, has not been surprised at how successful the team has been coming from behind in games this season.

"On any given night, guys have to step up and do a little bit extra," Upshall said. "When you feel like you've got a little bit extra, you've got to run with it. Everyone has been chipping in. The feeling in this room is really special; I've said that since day one.

"We've been able to stay in games and score big goals and found ways to get points, which are crucial. We work on our starts. It's something we can be better at, but that was big win for us."

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella was disappointed his team did not come away with at least one point.

"It's the type of game, if we want to be where we want to be when the season's done, you need to at least get a point out of it," Tortorella said. "I thought we had the opportunity after we killed the five-on-three, but we couldn't score and they did."

The Blues had a little extra jump in the third period. They had not played since Wednesday night. The Blue Jackets defeated Pittsburgh in overtime at home on Friday night before traveling to St. Louis.

"We wanted to push back and we had a similar situation last night and we just kept pushing forward," Blue Jackets left winger Boone Jenner said. "Tonight, it wouldn't go for us. We've got to regroup and get better."

Right winger Markus Hannikainen, a 22-year-old native of Finland, made his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets but left the game after the second period with an upper-body injury. Hannikainen was called up from Lake Erie on Friday.

NOTES: Blue Jackets C Brandon Dubinsky did not play after he was suspended for one game by the NHL for cross-checking the Penguins' Sidney Crosby in the neck Friday. ... Rookie D Joel Edmundson was back in the Blues' lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last two games. ... RW Dmitrij Jaskin, who has one goal and four assists in 22 games, was a healthy scratch for the Blues. ... The Blue Jackets' overtime victory Friday snapped a streak of 23 consecutive regulation games to start the season, the longest such run in the NHL since the Islanders started 1998-99 with 27. ... The Blues began a stretch of playing nine of 11 at home.