Kings to face a familiar foe, goalie Martin Jones, in season opener

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, as he often does so adeptly, got straight to the point.

The subject was the Shark goalie Martin Jones, who will be facing his former Kings teammates in Wednesday night’s NHL season opener at Staples Center.

“He comes from a good program,” Sutter said after Wednesday’s morning skate.

Jones was signed by the Kings as an unrestricted free agent in 2008 and spent his entire career with the organization before getting traded to Boston in June and flipped to the Sharks.

In fact, he was in the Los Angeles area when the trade to Boston came down and had dinner with his close buddy, Kings left winger Tanner Pearson, shortly thereafter.

So now is Pearson planning on lighting up Jones?

“I’m going to definitely try to,” Pearson said, smiling. “It’s going to be weird seeing him on the other side. Guys will be trying to bury them a little bit harder just because it’s him.

“It’ll be good to see him and hopefully he runs with his chance there.”

Pearson, Tyler Toffoli and Jones became tight when they came up together in the minors with the Kings’ affiliate in Manchester, N.H. Toffoli, the Kings right wing, wasn’t sure if the years of knowledge gave the Kings an advantage against Jones.

“I don’t really know his game, to be honest,” Toffoli said. “I know when he stops the puck. He does a very good job of it. We just know we have to find a way.

“It’s like any other game, really. We know he is going to make the first save. He’s an incredible goalie. We have to get to the net and get past their D [defense], get in front of his eyes and take it like it is any other game, not be too stressed.”

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The Kings’ extras Wednesday night will be forward Jordan Weal and defenseman Derek Forbort. Forward Dwight King was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Oct. 3, and defenseman Matt Greene is not quite ready to return.