Manchester has playoff upside

The Kings are preparing for the playoffs. Well, some of them are getting ready, anyway.

While the team chugs toward the end of a forgettable season, four players are looking at an extended spring. Patrick O’Sullivan, Gabe Gauthier, Noah Clarke and John Zeiler will be sent to the Manchester (N.H.) Monarchs for the American Hockey League playoffs.

“There is nothing better than playing hockey in the spring,” O’Sullivan said. “I’ve gone through playoffs in junior hockey, and it is fun. It’ll give us a good ending to this season.”

It should help the Monarchs as well. Those four players, along with goaltender Jason LaBarbera, give the Monarchs players with some NHL seasoning in their postseason run for the Calder Cup. The Monarchs lead the Atlantic Division and are tied for fourth overall in the AHL with 85 points.

O’Sullivan has split the season between the Kings and Monarchs, playing in 33 NHL games. Clarke, Zeiler and Gauthier have filled in because of injuries and trades. All but Gauthier have scored their first NHL goals this season.

Added to the list are defensemen Peter Harrold, who played 12 games with the Kings this season, and defenseman Richard Petiot, who has just returned to the Monarchs’ lineup after having knee surgery during training camp. Both will compete for spots with the Kings in training camp.

“With all the guys here and the guys that are already down there, it should be a pretty good group,” Clarke said. “When we get everybody together, we’re going to be a tough team.”

With some NHL savvy.

“I became a lot more confident playing as the season went on in Manchester, but playing up here has been a big help,” Zeiler said. “I got to test myself against the best players in the world.”

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Anze Kopitar, out the last eight games because of a back injury, will probably resume skating Monday, though he is still listed as week to week.

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In a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game Friday, goaltender Jonathan Bernier, the Kings’ first pick in the 2006 draft, played his first game since suffering an ankle injury Jan. 25. Bernier made 28 saves, including two breakaways, in the Halifax Mooseheads’ 4-1 victory over Prince Edward Island.

TONIGHT

vs. Columbus, 7:30, FSNW

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 1150.

Records -- Kings 23-34-14, Blue Jackets 28-36-7.

Record vs. Blue Jackets -- 1-1-1.

Update -- The Kings signed Princeton forward Kevin Westgarth to a three-year contract Friday.

Tickets -- (888) 546-4752.

chris.foster@latimes.com