Within minutes of San Jose knocking the Red Wings out of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, coach Mike Babcock talked about getting back to the sort of hockey played in Detroit when the team skates four strong lines.

That depth delivered the Wings to the second round of the 2011 playoffs before any other team in the NHL on Wednesday, as they swept Phoenix -- a good team during the regular season -- winning the fourth game 6-3.

Let us not get ahead of ourselves. But the fact is, many a deep playoff run by a veteran team has begun with a nice tuneup, sweeping the first series, gaining the confidence, sharpening their game, then getting that extra rest.

The Wings could have as many as eight days off.

It takes no doctor or fortune teller to predict Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen, who were both missing in action Wednesday, will be back at it by the time the Wings return to play, about a week from now. And they will work on the penalty kill, which is giving them a bit of trouble, in the ample practice time that will now be available to them, at The Joe.

I like the week off, too. Plenty of time to watch a lot of good hockey as the other series close out.

But before we let this one go, let us look at some of the keys to victory for the Red Wings in Game 4:

The Wings scored 18 goals in this series, and they came from 13 players. It would have been important enough to get contributions from all hands, because that is often how Stanley Cups are won. But with Zetterberg out, and then Franzen surprisingly missing the fourth game with an ankle that clearly grew more tender after Game 3, significant contributions, offensively and defensively, from everyone proved crucial.

For the second game in a row, Darren Helm delivered a bone-jarring check to bump a significantly bigger man off the puck behind the Phoenix net and turned a good, aggressive play into a tremendous one by controlling the puck and setting up a goal.

Patrick Eaves also made a nice play scoring the goal by executing the direction his coach has provided like a mantra since arriving in Hockeytown six years ago, "Go to the net!"

Eaves played well defensively, and added an empty-net goal, later.

Drew Miller busted back from the Phoenix blue line on a crucial back-check at 17:47 of the second period, to tip the puck off of Ray Whitney's stick as Whitney was cruising in alone on Jimmy Howard, from 10 feet. A goal, then, might well have meant starting the third period down a goal, instead of tied at 3-3.

Danny Cleary scored the winning goal from a seemingly impossible angle, at 13:41 of the third, after nearly 20 minutes of play during which both teams checked closely and refused to blink. Valtteri Filppula provided key assists and, as is so often the case, ample defense.

Little is more encouraging about the play of the Red Wings, with teams like San Jose, Vancouver and Washington potentially standing between them and a Stanley Cup, than the fact that 12 guys up front and six guys on the back end are all making significant contributions, potentially at any time.

Little is more encouraging than their depth, of course, unless it is their goalie.

Write him a note and apologize. Seriously, all of you naysayers: Pen to paper and just address it to Mr. Jimmy Howard, 19 Yzerman Drive, Detroit 48226.

Howard not only topped the opposing goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, who is, by far, the top free-agent goalie in the NHL heading into this offseason, he shook his fist at the so-called hockey gods while he was doing it.

A man of less fortitude would have looked at the two pucks bouncing off the tootsies of Jonathan Ericsson and Nicklas Lidstrom and between his legs, to give Phoenix a 2-1 lead in the first, and he might just have decided it was not his night. One tendency, then, is to slump. Another may be to play outside of oneself, playing out of position by trying to do too much.

Howard did neither. He just kept making saves. Cool, calm and collecting shots with his quick legs and soft chest, Howard's fabulous positioning suggests he is not spectacular when sometimes he is. No need for diving around or acrobatics, if you are a goalie who is already there.

The best example of that in the fourth game came moments after Phoenix scored to go up 3-2 at the beginning of the second period, when he stopped Kyle Turris breaking in alone at 20 feet with a brilliant right toe save. Like much of what Howard does, especially when he is at his best, it was subtle. He barely moved, because he was already there, in position. And such goaltender play will always be less spectacular than the quick, stabbing moves or acrobatics of goalies of a previous era.

When the preternaturally happy-go-lucky Howard would not smile in postgame interviews, he allowed, "I'll smile in June."

And I do not think he was talking about when he plays with the new baby at the lake in Maine, this summer.

How many times, over the years have we watched a Red Wings team, and others, too, stymied in the playoffs by one of the larger goalies in the NHL, when shots are continually fired into their leg pads? All of these guys, Bryzgalov, Rinne, Luongo, all the big tall ones, all go to their knees early, with their legs splayed, to take away the entire bottom of the net, with those overly-long leg pads. Because they are tall, their torsos, shoulders and arms take up much of the rest of the net, they figure.

Except, of course, for way up high. And the Wing started this series intent on firing high on Bryzgalov. That and a lot of traffic in front of him sealed his fate.

The first and third goals for the Wings, by Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall, were up high. So were others and many shots during the series.

With more and more 6-foot-5 goalies around the league all playing the butterfly style or a modification of it, the smart guys are going top shelf, corners.

Some 40 years ago, when the Boston Bruins confronted one of the early, big goalies in the game, Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens, Phil Esposito and some of the Bruins started calling Dryden, "The Giraffe," out of frustration.

Dryden did not kneel, early. But the tall goalies certainly do a lot of it, today.

Shoot high, on the giraffes.

Wings fans hate the son of gun when their team plays him, but how much would you like to see Shane Doan in a Red Wings uniform? It would take blowing up the salary cap, and prying him away from Phoenix -- or, is it Winnipeg? And, he could never wear the number 19 here.

But what a marvelous player Doan is. Aggressive, physical, great hands, good passer, plays both ways, great leader. He has the sort of ?lan walking around his locker room Steve Yzerman possessed.

Doan delivered, in this series, two of the heaviest body checks Lidstrom ever has absorbed. And given Nick's guile and skill, that is tall corn.

Doan has put up with both the move out of Winnipeg and the two years of confusion and frustration while the status of the team in Phoenix was never clear.

He is a warrior, and deserving of respect in Hockeytown. And that does not mean the denizens of Hockeytown should not boo him. But, it seems to me, he is to be booed with respect.

Radim Vrbata had a great series, and he would have had more goals, if not for Howard.

And Tippett is an excellent coach, and while he will likely chew over not having his team "more ready" for the Red Wings all summer long, Phoenix had a strong year, young players developing on the roster, and they will remain tough competition for the Wings and others in 2011-12, whether they are the Phoenix Coyotes or the Winnipeg Jets.

As Babcock says, there is no such thing as a best of seven, it is a race to win four. As Scotty Bowman said, much about winning the Stanley Cup involves playing the fewest games and making those games easy.

After losing the sixth and seventh game of the finals to Pittsburgh in 2009, when they could have won a consecutive Stanley Cup, and enduring all of the injures of 2009-10 and the uneven play and injuries of 2010-11, it may be that those hockey gods are beginning to nod toward the Wings and smile.

Four-game sweep of Phoenix, when most thought it would take six or seven, and now they are the only team still playing in the NHL who does not have an opponent, and will not for a week.

My prediction?

The wives are all tired of having them home after five days.

Goaltender shoulders responsibility for sweep to Red Wings: 'I'm the reason we lost tonight'
By Sarah McLellan

He tended to shy away from the media after losses. He sometimes didn't even want to talk after wins. But after the team's final and arguably most humbling defeat of the season, there stood goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, clean-shaven, accepting the blame.

"Team deserved better fate, better result tonight," he said after the Detroit Red Wings swept the Coyotes with a 6-3 win on Wednesday at Jobing.com Arena. "I'm the reason why we lose tonight."

Bryzgalov was having his best game of the series until Dan Cleary's short-side shot trickled off of Bryzgalov's leg and in for the game-winning goal with 6:19 left in the third period.

"I check what's going on in front, know what's going on and when I get my head back to Cleary, he has the puck and I already feel like puck hit me in the leg and I start finding where is it," Bryzgalov explained. "Find it was across the line."

The goal was the epitome of a series in which Bryzgalov seemed to always be a step behind, always looking a little frazzled despite having a solid final two months of the season. He wasn't intimidated by the Red Wings entering the series even though he got roughed up 6-1 in Game 7 of last year's playoff meeting with Detroit. He seemed ready for the challenge and prepared to prove himself as an elite playoff goalie.

"I have good moments. I have bad moments in this series," Bryzgalov said.

His teammates were quick to defend his play and weren't as critical of him.

"For a guy who pretty much got us to the playoffs, I don't think it's fair to put anything on him," defenseman Adrian Aucoin said. "We look at the shots. We look at the chances. Has he played better? Of course he has. But you can't expect one guy to do everything, and I think we could have been better."

Even after the less-than-stellar playoff performance, captain Shane Doan still thought Bryzgalov was worthy of the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the player thought to be most valuable to this team.

"He played unbelievable, especially in the first period when it was 2-1," Doan said. "He's arguably one the best players in the playoffs. He's been our best player for two years. It hasn't even been close."

Bryzgalov wasn't the sole reason the Coyotes lost this series in quick fashion. But it was refreshing for the backbone of the team to acknowledge his part in the demise. Whether he remains a Coyote or tests the free-agent market, this was undoubtedly a turning point for Bryzgalov's career.

"Clearly, I've gotta be better," he said. "Much better."