Swedes beat Finns for hockey gold

TORINO, Italy (Reuters) -- Niklas Lidstrom's blistering slapshot early in the third period gave Sweden a 3-2 win over Finland and the gold medal at the men's ice hockey tournament in the final event of the Games.

In a tournament that saw the world's biggest nations eliminated early, the Swedes and Finns let their Nordic rivalry take center stage in a fast-paced game.

The Finns were looking to erase the memory of blowing a 5-1 lead over Sweden at the 2003 world championships when they lost 6-5 at home.

The Swedes meanwhile were hoping for one last magical moment from stars Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin, who are in the twilight of their careers after leading Sweden to Olympic gold at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

"This is my last Olympics and it is an amazing way to go out," said Sundin, who turned 35 during the Games.

"Lidstrom's goal should be on a postage stamp. They should definitely do it. It's the first time we've won a tournament against the best in the world and that shot will go into the history books," said Sundin.

Sweden's postal service put Forsberg on a stamp after he scored the gold medal-winning goal in a penalty shootout against Canada in 1994.

Unbeaten in seven games, the Finns came into the final brimming with confidence. That was boosted when they took the lead when Kimmo Timonen's long shot found its way through a maze of players at 14:45 of the first period.

But the veteran Swedish team fought back, led by their nucleus of Red Wings players.

Henrik Zetterberg, a forward for Detroit, tied the game at 4:42 in the second period with a power play marker, and then the Swedes took the lead through Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall's wrist shot at 13:24.

Ville Peltonen's goal at 15 minutes of the second brought the Finns back level, setting up a final-period showdown.

Sundin won the opening faceoff and Forsberg broke over the blue line with the puck.

His drop pass back to Sundin, followed by another drop pass to Lidstrom gave the Red Wings defenseman a wide open chance and he buried his slapshot high to the stick side of goalie Antero Niittymaki for the deciding goal.

"After Mats laid it up perfectly, I tried to go high to the blocker side. I hit it perfectly, I got everything on the shot. I hit the spot where I was aiming," Lidstrom said.

Finland pulled their goalie for an extra skater with time running out, and nearly got the tying goal by from Olli Jokinen with 20 seconds left to play.

But Henrik Lundqvist made a series of big saves to ensure Sweden's second ice hockey gold overall.

"It's a proud moment, but also a tough one," said Finnish captain Saku Koivu after his nation failed to win their first Olympic ice hockey gold. "There are times like this in sport where it's tough to see the positive at the moment."

Goaltending was expected to be a weakness for both teams coming into the tournament, but both Lundqvist and fellow NHL rookie Niittymaki rose to the occasion to put their teams into the final as Canada, the United States, Russia and the Czech Republic all failed to come through in the crunch.

The Czechs salvaged some Olympic glory by beating the Russians on Saturday for the bronze medal.