LOS ANGELES -- Consistency on offense has eluded the Detroit Red Wings for much of the season. However, they scored with regularity in a rout of the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

Left winger Thomas Vanek scored twice and the Red Wings buried the Kings with a three-goal first period in a 4-0 victory on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Goaltender Jared Coreau stopped 34 shots to record his first career shutout for the Red Wings, who won for the second time in three games.

Center Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and two assists as the Red Wings (17-17-5) bounced back after being blanked by the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.

"(Athanasiou) did a great job for us," said Vanek, who has nine goals this season. "I think his speed brings a different element to our line, and I played with him earlier in the year. Again, he showed tonight he was the difference."

Goalie Jeff Zatkoff saved 18 shots for the Kings (19-16-4), who have lost four of their last six.

Detroit right winger Anthony Mantha took advantage of a Kings miscue and scored at 7:33 of the third period to cap the Red Wings' scoring. For Mantha, it was his 10th goal of the season.

"For us, it's scoring," Vanek said about the Red Wings being consistent. "Right after Christmas against Buffalo, it wasn't our worst game, but I thought for the most part we played good hockey, but we struggled to score. Tonight, I think when you get those early ones, I think it kind relaxes everyone on the bench and helps us out."

The win allowed the Red Wings to avenge a 4-1 setback to the Kings on Dec. 15 at Detroit.

"We just weren't winning battles," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We were turning pucks over on our back-check. I know one of those goals was because we turned the puck over, then on the back-check we lost our coverage. The other ones were just down low battles that we lost."

The Red Wings played without defensemen Brendan Smith and Niklas Kronwall, who were both injured in Wednesday's 2-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks. The pair is expected to miss the remaining three games on the Red Wings' road trip.

But their absence didn't prevent the Red Wings from teeing off on the Kings in the opening period.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead when center Frans Nielsen dropped a pass from behind the net to Vanek just outside the crease for a goal at 1:42 of the first period.

The Kings got a chance to tie it at 7:42 when Tanner Pearson was awarded a penalty shot. However, Pearson's attempt was stuffed by Coreau.

"Tanner Pearson's a good player and he's got a lot of goals in this league, so I was ready for anything, a deep shot or whatever" Coreau said. "Those are good to just get momentum on your side."

Coreau took the shutout in stride.

"It's a good feeling, but like in a travel game I got scored on four times in one period, so you don't get too comfortable," said Coreau, who improved to 3-1-1.

The Red Wings cashed in a Kings turnover when Athanasiou snared a loose puck, broke away from the pack and slipped a winner past Zatkoff for a 2-0 edge at 10:02 of the first.

Vanek scored again when he rebounded an attempt by Athanasiou and knocked it past Zatkoff to make it 3-0 with 1:43remaining in the first.

"We had a lot of chances and even the Tanner penalty shot might have changed it," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "We play games against San Jose and then Detroit, guys aren't quite as sharp as they should be. Detroit is a really good road team and they got screwed (Wednesday). We probably deserved better and we have to be ready."

NOTES: Kings LW Dustin Brown tied Marcel Dionne for third on the club's career games played list at 921. ... Red Wings RW Gustav Nyquist played his 300th career game. ... Red Wings LW Henrik Zetterberg was the team's active leading scorer against the Kings with 17 goals and 22 assists in 42 previous games. C Anze Kopitar led Los Angeles in scoring against Detroit with 10 goals and 20 assists entering the game. ... The Kings led the league in hits entering the game with 1,158. ... The Red Wings scratched RW Thomas Jurco. D Matt Greene, D Tom Gilbert and C Andy Andreoff were unavailable for the Kings. ... Both clubs resume play Saturday. The Red Wings visit San Jose, and the Kings host Minnesota.