TURIN, Italy — The big Swedish three aren't going home to celebrate. They're not heading to Vancouver for a repeat in four years, either.

This was the moment for Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin and Nicklas Lidstrom. The one opportunity to erase the painful memories of recent Olympics past.

And they sealed it in the most perfect of ways: Forsberg to Sundin to Lidstrom for a blistering slap shot that was truly golden.

"I kind of knew it was our last chance, and this is the way we wanted to go out," Forsberg said.

Lidstrom's goal, coming just 10 seconds into the third period, snapped a tie and sent Sweden to a 3-2 victory over Finland on Sunday in the men's hockey finale.

It also sent them packing — for North America.

With the NHL schedule due to resume Tuesday, and the airport in Turin shut down Sunday night for the closing ceremonies of the games, the Swedes weren't able to head to Stockholm for a celebration that started as soon as the final horn sounded.

That's where the people partied like it was 1994.

"We wished we had time to go back to Sweden," said Forsberg, who scored the gold-medal winning goal 12 years ago in Lillehammer, the only other time the small European nation claimed Olympic glory.

It's been hockey heartache since.

The Swedes earned what should've been an easy road to the semis four years ago in Salt Lake City when they drew lowly Belarus in the round of 8. But instead of moving on, they were bounced by Belarus.

Given another shot at an inferior opponent — this time against Switzerland — Swedish coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson suggested it might be in his team's interest to drop the final preliminary game against Slovakia.

Whether the Swedes laid down, or not, is up for debate. Their convincing 6-3 win to start the medal round was clearly a smooth start on the road to the top step on the podium.

"What happened in Salt Lake is always going to be there," forward Daniel Alfredsson said. "It's something I'm not going to cry about. It's something you go through and you learn from.

"When we went into the Switzerland game, we knew that we can't take anybody lightly."

They didn't.

They dispatched the high-powered Czech Republic and set up a matchup with their neighbor and biggest rival Finland. So when they got their gold, the smiles were even brighter than the shining medals each player kissed to the sky.

"It means a lot to Swedish hockey," Sundin said. "I think this generation of players, we are getting older, and this is probably our last chance, so it's great."

For the Finns it was another disappointment against the nation they often come up short against. Sweden has two Olympic gold medals to Finland's zero. The Swedes are also ahead 7-1 in world titles.

"It's hard to see those guys lose a game, but somebody had to win the gold," Forsberg said.

Forsberg has done that twice and had a big hand in the clinching goal each time.

The 1994 gold final went to a shootout, an extra round of the tiebreaker, too. Forsberg put the Swedes ahead with a goal that was commemorated on a postage stamp.

This time, he made a pass to Sundin, who dropped the puck back for Lidstrom. The defenseman picked a spot in the net that NHL rookie Antero Niittymaki thought he had covered. The drive clanked off the posts and settled in the net.

"I tried to shoot high on the blocker side and I hit it perfectly," Lidstrom said.

That was the only perfect thing on the closing day of these games. Finland was 7-0 before its only loss left the small Nordic nation in second place.

"The silver medal is never going to turn into gold, even when it's 100 years old," said Teemu Selanne, who powered the Finnish offense throughout the tournament. "I think a while later, it'll be a little less disappointing, but I thought we deserved better than this."

They almost got it. If not for a stunning save by Henrik Lundqvist against Olli Jokinen in the final seconds in front of a seemingly open net, the Finns would've forced overtime.

Still, their NHLers will return to North America with something to show for their efforts the past two weeks. A tournament that forced the final four teams to play eight times in a span of 11 or 12 days.

The performance was better than gold-medal favorites Canada and Russia, which left Italy without any hardware. The United States met the same fate, knocked out by Finland in the quarters.

Selanne's smile that he flashed throughout the run changed when he had two teeth knocked out in the quarterfinals against the Americans.

The grin dimmed Sunday when the Swedes danced around their end of the ice, a zone cluttered by helmets, sticks and gloves that were thrown in the air at the end.

"When the buzzer goes off, you did everything for nothing," Finland captain Saku Koivu said. "That's how it feels.

"You play eight games in 12 days, and the one thing that's realistic is we're not as deep as the other top 3-4 countries. It's like the chance of a lifetime. I hope the guys who plan the schedule in Vancouver pay attention to it."