Sweden strikes hockey gold with 3-2 win over Finland

TURIN, Italy -- The three crowns on Sweden's hockey sweaters are said to represent three great kings. Try convincing any fan they don't stand for hockey royalty: Forsberg, Sundin and Lidstrom.

Sweden's three biggest stars came through in its biggest game ever, with Nicklas Lidstrom scoring the game-winning goal 10 seconds into the third period on assists by Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg as the Swedes beat rival Finland 3-2 Sunday for the Olympic men's hockey gold medal.

It seemed a week ago the Swedes had no chance for this. They were beaten badly by Russia, 5-0, then lost to Slovakia 3-0. But the Swedes got better as the tournament went along. They peaked for the gold medal game against Finland, which had a 27-5 scoring advantage while winning its first seven games in Turin.

The game winner came so quickly in the third, Finn goalie Antero Niittymaki almost didn't react. Forsberg grabbed the puck off the faceoff and fed ahead to Sundin, whose perfect-as-can-be drop pass to the blue line was one-timed by Lidstrom past Niittymaki.

Finland pressed and pressed for the tying goal after that, and nearly got it with 20 seconds remaining by Olli Jokinen. But Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist, made a series of big saves in outplaying fellow NHL rookie Niittymaki, who had shut out three of his previous five opponents.

-- AP