Bylsma’s ‘Luck’ Still Holding Out

Dan Bylsma, a hard-working forward who wasn’t even considered a lock to make the team at the beginning of the season, is the only King who has played in all 57 games. Bylsma has only two goals and five points, but he has stayed in the lineup with aggressive play and became the only remaining King to play in every game when forwards Dimitri Khristich and Ray Ferraro were sidelined because of injuries last week.

“I knew at one time that it was me, Ray and Dimitri left, then Ray had a neck problem and then Dimitri went down to no fault of his own,” Bylsma said. “It’s a situation where I try to do the things off the ice to keep me in good shape and keep me playing in games. . . . But it’s simply luck as far as I’m concerned.”

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Because of recent injuries, Roman Vopat joined the Kings from their Phoenix affiliate when they played at Calgary two weeks ago. Since then, he has shown signs of the talent the Kings raved about when they acquired him from St. Louis in the Wayne Gretzky trade last year.

“It helped when I played at Phoenix because I would play 20 to 25 minutes a game,” said Vopat, whose older brother, Jan, is a key defenseman for the Kings. “I got a lot of ice time, and that helped me a lot.”