TURIN, Italy (CP) - Nicklas Lidstrom scored 10 seconds into the third period as Sweden defeated rival Finland 3-2 to win Olympic hockey gold for a second time on Sunday.

The Swedes, who won gold at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, were the first team to beat the tenacious Finns in eight tournament games. "It's an incredible feeling to be able to pull this off," Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson told CBC. "I'm overwhelmed. It's impossible to describe."

Finland, which had allowed only five goals in its first seven matches, was in its first Olympic final but had to settle for the silver.

Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall also scored for Sweden, now 40-15-15 all-time against their Scandinavian rivals in Olympic and world championship play.

Kimmo Timonen and Velle Peltonen scored for Finland, which mounted a desperate third-period attack but couldn't beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

"We got a scare at the end of the game but Henrik made some huge saves for us," said Alfredsson.

Peter Forsberg and brothers Kenny and Jorgen Jonsson, members of the team that beat Canada in the final in Albertville, won a second career hockey gold medal.

The teams were tied 2-2 and playing four skaters per side when Lidstrom blasted a shot from the left point under the crossbar that gave goaltender Antero Niittymaki no chance for the save.

The goal livened a tight checking game and sparked competing chants from Swedish and Finnish fans in the less-than sellout crowd of 8,274 at Palasport Olympico.

For two avowed rivals, the first period was played with caution rather than ferocity, with both sides wary of giving up scoring chances. But the Swedes took three minor penalties and the Finns made them pay.

With Jorgen Jonsson serving a hooking penalty, Timonen blasted a low shot from the left point that deflected off a defenceman and bounced through Lundqvist's pads 14:45 into the match.

Sweden came out harder in the second and forced Finland into four straight minors.

Zetterberg scored during the first, banking a shot in from the side of the net off Aki Berg and Niittymaki at 4:42. Kronwall got another power-play marker at 13:24 when Antti Laaksonen failed to clear the puck and the Swedish defenceman swiped it in from the slot.

But Peltonen started and finished the tying goal with good forechecking and chipped Jussi Jokinen's pass across the crease in at 15:00.

Sweden's Fredrik Modin joined hockey's Triple Gold Club of players who have won Olympic gold, a world championship and a Stanley Cup. Modin won the 1998 world championship and the 2004 Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay.

Forsberg was already in the club, which now numbers 17.

The tournament all-star team as voted by the media had Niittymaki in goal, Lidstrom and Timonen on defence and Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Alexander Ovechkin up front. The MVP was Niittymaki.

Notes - Sweden took over the world No. 1 ranking, ending Canada's three-year reign as the top hockey country. Canada is second and the Czech Republic third, Russia fourth and Finland fifth ... The final featured three brother acts - Saku and Mikko Koivu for Finland; Kenny and Jorgen Jonsson and twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin for Sweden. Other brothers in the tournament were Czechs Tomas and Frantisek Kaberle and Slovaks Marian and Marcel Hossa. Finns Olli and Jussi Jokinen are not related.