DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings flew home from Phoenix on Thursday, a day after wrapping up a first-round playoff series in which they had no passengers.

Everyone contributed to their four-game sweep of the Coyotes. If ever there was a playoff series that demonstrated a team’s depth, this was it.

Thirteen players scored at least one goal. Sixteen players chipped in at least one point. And those who didn’t get on the scoresheet contributed in other ways -- playing solid defensively, being physical, winning faceoffs.

The best teams in the NHL all have players they try to hide on their fourth line or their third defense pairing. The Red Wings make every player feel important. Everyone has a specialty role, either on the power play or penalty-killing units, or both.

All four lines contributed. All three defense pairings stepped up. Goaltender Jimmy Howard showed the consistency he played with the first two months of the season. For the second year in a row, he outplayed his more celebrated counterpart, Ilya Bryzgalov, and by a wide margin.

Phoenix didn’t know which line was going to present the most problems on a given night. Usually it was multiple lines.

"They kept coming, and there’s just not much room out there against those guys,” Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle said Wednesday after Detroit’s 6-3 win in Game 4. "Every guy on that team came hard, finished checks, and if you turn (the puck) over, they have the skill to make you pay for it.

"If they play this well, they’re going to go far.”

The Red Wings are averaging more goals per game in the playoffs (4.5) than they did in the regular season (3.13), which doesn’t happen too often. They never trailed by more than one goal. They were behind a total of 18:03 in the four games.

They allowed only four even-strength goals in four games -- and two of those were on shots that went off the skates of their own players.

"It shows the depth we have, not relying on a couple of guys to score all the time," captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "It makes it harder to play against us, makes it harder to match-up against us."

This series was teeming with positive signs that bode well for the rest of the playoffs.

Their best defenseman in the series, Niklas Kronwall, plays on the third pairing. Darren Helm, the forward other than Pavel Datsyuk who made the biggest impact game-in and game-out, plays on the fourth line.

Lidstrom, who might win his seventh Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman, needed to log only 19:34 a game. Amazingly, that ranked fifth on the team in ice time among defensemen.

The Red Wings recorded their third playoff sweep in four years without their leading scorer from the regular season, Henrik Zetterberg, and for 1½ games, their leading goal-scorer, Johan Franzen. Both will return for the start of the next series.

"It’s a good series for us," coach Mike Babcock said. "Anytime you can win four straight and not risk getting hurt, that’s a positive thing."

After needing seven games and three trips out West to dispatch the Coyotes a year ago, the Red Wings weren’t fooling around this time. They played with poise and purpose. They were determined to end this series as quickly, efficiently and painlessly as possible.

Now they will have a much-needed week-long break to heal injuries and rest before the next round, which will be much tougher.

It’s possible the Red Wings might not have home-ice advantage for the rest of the playoffs. It’s possible they could play San Jose and Vancouver in the next two rounds. If so, they’ll be doing a lot of traveling, making it even more imperative that they closed out the Coyotes without having to make a second trip to the desert.

Phoenix turned out to be the ideal first-round opponent. It’s a good, balanced, well-coached team but not particularly hard to play against, lacking a dominant line and a shut-down defenseman, destined to go only as far as its goalie could take it.

Detroit is the only team to record a first-round sweep. Taking the path of least resistance is one of the keys to a long playoff run.

It wasn’t all rosy. The Red Wings allowed a below-average power play to convert on 6-of-18 opportunities, in part because Lidstrom rarely is on the penalty-kill now, in order to reduce his minutes. But if that’s the biggest issue heading into the next round, they’re in good shape.

"It’s a hell of a team," Bryzgalov said. "They execute well and they have excellent players."