Colt King has been back on the ice for the Rapid City Rush for almost a month. The goals and assists from No. 45 are just finding their way back on the scoreboard.

King, a left-winger, was Rapid City's leading goal scorer when he was sidelined with a lower body injury in a December game against the Missouri Mavericks.

"Before I got hurt things were going pretty well for me. Taking that time off takes a lot out of you. It's almost like starting the season fresh again," he said.

King said it was difficult waiting for his injury to heal, and even more difficult coming back.

"The other guys are steadily getting better and you're just waiting for the chance to get back out and get into the lineup," King said. "The first couple games, it was a feeling out process, just trying to get your rhythm and your timing back."

Since his return on Jan. 8 against Bossier-Shreveport, King has lit the lamp four times and added nine assists, improving his season total to 35 points on 16 goals and 19 assists.

Included was his penalty shot goal in Saturday night's 3-2 win over the Arizona Sundogs, a win that gave the Rush a three-game sweep over Arizona this week and completed the Rush's successful seven-game road trip.

Last year, skating for the now-defunct Rocky Mountain Rage, King scored 28 goals and 41 assists for 69 points, numbers he'll have trouble surpassing this year because of the time on the IR.

But it's the team record and points in the conference standings that count more than his own stats, King said.

"It's really not about the points. If I score two more goals the rest of the year and the team keeps winning, that's all that matters," he said. "The forwards we have, anybody can score at any given time, which is great. You never really have to rely on myself, Les (Reaney), Scott (Wray), (Jon) Pelle, whoever. It doesn't matter. Someone's going to be there."

Rapid City currently sits in first place in the Central Hockey League's Northern Conference and just completed a 5-0-2 road trip, including a three-game sweep of the Sundogs.

With a top-seed in the playoffs within the team's grasp, King is looking to be a factor down the stretch and into the postseason for Rapid City.

"I've been on some good teams, but I've never really made any noise in the playoffs. There have been good teams that didn't do what we were supposed to do in the playoffs," he said. "We have the right ingredients now to make a push. It doesn't matter who's scoring as long as we're putting the puck in the net."