Kings beat Stars, 5-2, but Simmonds has lower-body injury

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The eyes of Texas were mostly upon the World Series and the baseball Rangers on Thursday night, which was just as well for the sake of the Dallas Stars. They probably wish no one had seen their 5-2 loss to the Kings at the American Airlines Center in front of a crowd that was, quite optimistically, announced as 11,306.

Dustin Brown scored during a five-on-three power play in the first period, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Wayne Simmonds scored goals nine seconds apart in the second period and Willie Mitchell scored his second career shorthanded goal early in the third when an intended pass deflected off the skate of Dallas defenseman Philip Larsen and past goaltender Kari Lehtonen.

Andrew Raycroft replaced Lehtonen after that goal, but Raycroft had been pulled in favor of an extra skater when Justin Williams scored the Kings’ final goal, with 1:41 left in the third.

Those efforts and 30 saves from a sharp Jonathan Quick enabled the Kings (7-3-0) to finish a tough trip with a 3-2 record.

However, Simmonds sustained what a club spokesman said was a lower-body injury and played only one shift in the third period. We’ll try to get an update after the game.

The Kings were to charter back to Los Angeles after the game and will take to the ice at Staples Center on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

They will not regain the services of defenseman Drew Doughty in that game. Team executives decided to let Doughty, who suffered a concussion Oct. 20, take another few days to rest. His return is now projected for Nov. 4 at home against Tampa Bay.

More after the game at www.latimes.com/sports

-- Helene Elliott, reporting from Dallas