THE BOSTON Bruins and Manchester Monarchs may be all done for the season, but that doesn’t mean your hockey rooting has to be.

Why not throw your support behind the upstart Los Angeles Kings and the 13 former Monarchs on the active roster?

The No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, the Kings steamrolled over President’s Trophy winners Vancouver in round one (Bruins fans can’t help but smile at that) and are on the verge of knocking off No. 2 St. Louis.

The Kings lead the Blues 3-0 in their best-of-seven series and could complete the sweep today at 3 p.m.

“They’re on top of their game right now,” Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. “(They) have been for a little while.”

Four of the former Monarchs playing for L.A. right now were in Manchester this season: Andrei Loktionov, Slava Voynov, Jordan Nolan and Dwight King.

The last in that list made his first NHL playoff goal a big one in Game 3.

The Blues were pressing and had tied the game at 1-1 before King’s second period tally gave momentum back to L.A. for good.

“You like to chip in any way you can in these series,” King told lakingsinsider.com’s Rich Hammond. “I found a way to get my first goal, which was key, and we got a win.”

It wasn’t a smooth start when Darryl Sutter took over as Kings coach midway through the season. His approach took some getting used to, but as time wore on it became clear that the Kings could play Sutter’s game.

Now, when it matters most, they are playing the most complete hockey of any team still in the hunt.

The Western Conference is ripe for the picking and it’s not as if things just happened to fall the Kings’ way.

No, the Kings are the ones that opened up that “why not us?” piece of highway headed toward Lord Stanley.

This Kings run and the way they are playing right now is the team many people thought they should have been all season.

Los Angeles has the horses, but they were never pulling the same direction at the same time.

Now they are and the result has to be scary to the rest of the field.

It starts at the back with Vezina Award finalist Jonathan Quick (who played in Manchester from 2007-09) in goal.

Always a workhorse in the regular season, Quick has been as good if not better in the playoffs.

You can’t win the Cup without a good goalie, or at least a hot one. Quick is both.

On the blue line, the Kings have that coveted mix of puck-movers and heavy hitting grinders.

Up front, the scoring that was so sporadic all season is now cranking at high volume, including the much-maligned Dustin Penner (two goals, four assists).

While a Blues comeback is possible, it’s not likely. The Kings have broken their spirit and that was evident in the bad penalties and shoddy goaltending of Brian Elliott from Game 3.

Putting the Blues away will send L.A. to the conference final against either Phoenix or Nashville.

That series could be a long one and if the Kings are able to move past St. Louis quickly and get an extended rest, their chances are good.

Playoff hockey is as good as it gets in sports and it may still sting that the Bruins and Monarchs are done.

But there’s no shame in jumping on another bandwagon, especially one with local ties and no Cups in its trophy case.

- - - - - - -

The Kings may have the obvious crop of former Monarchs on the roster, but there are a few more sprinkled around the remaining playoff teams as well.

Brian Boyle (Monarchs 2006-2009) is with the New York Rangers, Brayden Schenn (seven games in Manchester in 2011) with Philadelphia and Peter Harrold (2006-08) with New Jersey.

Washington is the only team still playing in the Eastern Conference without a former Monarch.

- - - - - - -

Deering’s Jon Rheault is off to a good start in the AHL playoffs with three goals in the first five games for Abbotsford.

The Heat are tied 1-1 with Toronto in their second round Western Conference series.

Rheault, a former Monarch himself, scored 16 goals and 17 assists in 47 regular season games with Abbotsford.

Ian Clark covers pro hockey for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is iclark@unionleader.com.