John Niyo / The Detroit News

TORINO, Italy -- Welcome home, boys.

There won't be any need for dark glasses and fake moustaches when Nicklas Lidstrom and his fellow countrymen on the Red Wings' roster head to Sweden this summer. Not like four years ago, when the Olympic hockey team lost a stunner to Belarus in a quarterfinal and the next day the national newspaper ran a front-page headline that read: "They Shamed Their Country."

No, this time they've got a passport that's as good as gold.

"With this?" Lidstrom said, smiling as he held up the shiny, new medal draped around his neck. "I think it's going to be great."

Sweden erased its recent history of failures on the international stage by outlasting archrival Finland for a hard-fought 3-2 victory Sunday in the men's gold-medal game at the Palasport Olimpico. Each of the five Wings on the Swedish roster played a key role in the victory, and all three of the Swedes' goals were scored by the Detroit contingent, including Lidstrom's winning slap shot 10 seconds into the third period.

The game ended, fittingly, with the Wings' Henrik Zetterberg diving to the ice to block a point shot by Finland's Teemu Selanne, forcing the puck out of Sweden's zone and allowing time to expire on what was a frantic final two minutes.

"It was nuts," said Tomas Holmstrom, whose screen in front of the Finland net set up Wings teammate Niklas Kronwall's go-ahead goal earlier in the second period.

"My heart was racing even standing still on the bench. (Henrik) Lundqvist made some incredible saves there at the end. I have no idea why the puck didn't go in."

Lundqvist, 23, an NHL rookie with the New York Rangers, wasn't even sure himself on the climactic save he made with less than 20 seconds left, robbing Olli Jokinen from point-blank range with a diving stick save.

"I threw myself over to the post and got my arm up," Lundqvist said. "But I really don't know what it hit. All I know is it didn't end up behind me."

Moments later, Lundqvist found himself in the middle of a mob of blue and yellow, as the Swedish players came streaming off the bench, joyfully tossing sticks, gloves and helmets.

"It has been a long wait for Swedish hockey," said Mats Sundin, the team captain who wasn't afraid to admit he got a little misty-eyed listening to the Swedish anthem.

It's the second Olympic title for Sweden in hockey. But after winning gold in 1994, this one was long overdue, the Swedes' all agreed, even if the Finns, who had bounced Sweden in a 1998 Olympic quarterfinal, begged to differ in defeat.

Being viewed as Sweden's "little brother" is tough enough, but after going undefeated through the first seven games -- winning by a combined score of 27-5 -- this was a difficult pill to swallow.

"It's very tough, obviously," said Selanne, 35, who finished with a tournament-best six goals. "We were so close and we played so well in this tournament. The silver medal, it's going to taste a little better later. But right now, it's very disappointing."

Like Selanne, this was the last go-around for many of the Swedish stars, particularly the Tre Kronor triumvirate of Lidstrom, Sundin and Peter Forsberg. And the irony wasn't lost on their teammates that those three touched the puck on the winning goal, one that Lidstrom said "could be the biggest goal I've ever scored."

With the two teams skating four-on-four to start the third period, Forsberg found Sundin, who left a drop pass for Lidstrom all alone at the left point. He wound up and let it rip.

"I tried to go high blocker side and I hit it just perfectly -- I got everything on the shot," Lidstrom said. "And I hit that spot where I was aiming, too."

Finnish goalie Antero Niittymaki, named the tournament MVP with three shutouts in his last five games, had no chance on the goal.

"What a shot," Sweden's Daniel Sedin said. "If that isn't top corner, I don't know what is."

A half-hour after the game, Lidstrom already had been besieged by fans trying to get the stick that saved Sweden.

"But I'm going to keep this for myself," he said, laughing. "No one's getting this one."

"I'm so glad that it was Nick doing it for Sweden," said Zetterberg, who got the Wings', er, Swedes' first goal Sunday. "He does it every night in Detroit. But he never gets enough credit back in Sweden for the way he plays."

Lidstrom, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, certainly will now, though, after he and the other veterans passed the torch in dramatic fashion.

"To win it in your final Olympic tournament and to finally be able to wear the gold medal, it's just an unbelievable feeling," he said. "It's great that we could finish on top."

DETROIT -- Everyone in the Red Wings organization can now head out to wherever it is they're going in a positive frame of mind.

The Wings went into the two-week Winter Olympics break with a 6-3 victory Sunday over the Colorado Avalanche.

"This is a home run for us," coach Mike Babcock said. "We go in feeling good about ourselves, and looking at the newspaper in the morning, we can enjoy our coffee."

Tomas Holmstrom's power-play goal in the third period broke a 3-3 tie. Henrik Zetterberg and Brendan Shanahan (empty net) also scored in the third.

The Wings trailed 2-0 early in the first period, but worked their way back.

"Our team played great, it was our goalie that stunk," said Manny Legace (20 saves), arguably too overly critical of himself.

The victory completed a four-game regular season series sweep of the Avalanche. It was the first time the Wings have swept the Avalanche during the regular season.

"It feels good but it's scary if we have to match up with them in the playoffs," said Mathieu Schneider, who also scored. "These are always huge games for us. Playing against them, our special teams have risen to the occasion."

The Avalanche were without forwards Alex Tanguay, Steve Konowalchuk and Pierre Turgeon.

"They had some people missing," Babcock said. "We had some more power than them, and when you have that, you can do some things."

Said Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville: "None of the games were blowouts, but saying that, they're (the Wings) a team we have to play a perfect game against from start to finish, and we didn't."

The Wings have another reason to feel good about themselves -- they are unbeaten in their last eight games (7-0-1).

"We've worked down low and kept the pressure on," Schneider said. "That's been the key to our success lately."

Pavel Datsyuk and Jason Williams also scored for the Wings.

Patrice Brisebois, Milan Hejduk and Dan Hinote scored for the Avalanche, who saw their three-game winning streak end.

Break is here

Some players are going to warmer climates, and others are staying around town or going home -- wherever that might be.

The 14 Wings not competing in the Olympics will be all over the globe until they reconvene Feb. 22 for informal workouts at Joe Louis Arena.

"A lot of people are looking forward to this break," said defenseman Andreas Lilja , who will return to Sweden, taking advantage of this time off.

The primary reason, said Lilja, is to get bodies rejuvenated.

"This time of year, about 55 or 60 games in, a lot of bodies are torn up," Lilja said.

"Everybody is feeling a little beat up about this time of the season. It'll be good to just get away without any games for a little while.

"Usually, we'll have three or four days off for the All-Star break, right about this time of season. But to get a week off, actually a little more than that, that's going to make everyone feel a little better heading into the playoffs."

For the nine players competing in the Torino Games, they will play a bundle of high-pressure, high-intensity games in a short period.

But the Wings, ironically, have won Stanley Cups in 1998 and 2002, the last two Olympic years, despite seeing many of their players competing in the Olympics.

"For the guys going to the Olympics, the intensity and level of play will really spur them on for the remainder of the regular season," captain Steve Yzerman said.

Alumni showdown

Joe Louis Arena won't be without hockey during the Olympic break.

The Second Annual Alumni Showdown takes place between the Wings and Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Dino Ciccarelli , Marcel Dionne , Mark Howe , Igor Larionov and Ted Lindsay are among the Wings scheduled to play. Dave Lewis will coach.

Among the Canadiens expected to play: Rejean Houle , Yvon Lambert , Rod Langway and Pete Mahovlich .

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Joe Louis Arena box office and TicketMaster locations.

Ice chips

There was a pregame ceremony in which children presented the Wings' players competing in the Olympics with their game jerseys.

With 19 goals, Schneider is one shy of tying his career high (20) with Montreal during the 1993-94 season.

Datsyuk's goal Sunday was only his second in the last 10 games. Williams' scored ended his 14-game goal drought.

Ted Kulfan can be reached at (313) 223-4606, or ted.kulfan@detnews.com.

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The damaged sport came back after a season in limbo, with spiffy new rules designed to popularize the games, retooled rosters, and the Red Wings still durable and winging. And not five months into the welcome-back season, the sport proceeded to damage itself again.

Ice hockey seems to have this wish to destroy itself. As if it were not enough that the NHL has too many gaps in its history, there is now a betting, gambling, bookmaking scandal.

And this scandal just happens to involve hockey's most famous name since Gordie Howe was in his 50s. There is no proof that Wayne Gretzky was involved in this scandal, even with the reports, rumors, innuendo and anonymous gossip drifting around in various media reports.

But the name Gretzky grabs at attention that the NHL could never claim otherwise. And, despite his denials there is all this mention of Gretzky, supposedly The Great One, and his reputation and his name are now tarnished, perhaps due to association.

The words gambling and sports are eternally linked. But they are incompatible.

People bet on games. It is a strong part of our culture. But those who do the gambling are common people, the great unwashed. It is, presumably, innocent fun. A bit of daredevilry for those plunking 50 bucks down on a hockey game - or a Super Bowl.

But when athletes do the wagering and an assistant coach is involved in the gaming and when the wife of a head coach and the sport"s most famous player is dragged into it, there is enormous suspicion. And that is what is happening in this newest of NHL misadventures.

Rick Tocchet, one of Gretzky's assistant coaches with the Phoenix Coyotes, is deeply involved, according to the Associated Press and the Newark Star-Ledger. Janet Jones, Gretzky"s actress wife, was a bettor, according to the same two media outlets.

And the AP has reported that there is wiretap evidence that Gretzky talked with Tocchet about Janet Jones' supposed involvement.

And the Arizona Republic reported that Mike Barrett, the Coyotes" general manager and Gretzky’s longtime agent, placed a wager on last Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Beyond that, the NHL is taking a sabbatical for the Winter Olympics, attracting global attention. And Gretzky so happens to be executive director of Team Canada.

And now there is another scandal smearing hockey. Jose Theodore, the goalkeeper for the Canadiens, flunked a drug test, according to the Canadian Broadcasting System.

It is all very messy and scary for the sport.

But the journalism also happens to be somewhat shady. Not one of the sources used in the research by the AP or the Star-Ledger has been identified.

Supposedly, the half dozen or so NHL athletes who did place bets with the ring supposedly operated in part by Tocchet never wagered on hockey games. They bet on football.

And supposedly, again, they therefore are innocent of any wrongdoing. That itself is amazing that the NHL would not punish any of its players if they confined their gambling to football and/or basketball.

Goody, goody, guys.

The league has suspended Tocchet - an extremely tough NHL player for 18 seasons. The way I read the headlines, the NHL "granted” Tocchet a suspension. It was worded as though Gary Bettman, the NHL’s commissioner, was presenting Tocchet with a gift.

Ice hockey, the NHL anyway, is in deep stuff once again, even if the betting athletes did not bet on games in their own sport.

Professional sports commissioners always have been worried about the connections made by the athletes. There is a simple linkage: an athlete bets; he loses a large sum of money to a bookmaker; the bookie is seeking an edge; he corners the athlete and says, "OK, you’re into me for half a mill, we’re even if your team loses tomorrow night and you can guarantee it.”

The logic is quite simple.

And the danger is enormous.

Hockey is a tough sport with tough athletes, and the NHL has taken plenty. There was a labor lockout in 1994 and a few months of games vanished. The entire 2004-05 season disappeared due to another labor lockout marked by self-destructive stubbornness by both commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL Players Association.

With a settlement, new rules were invoked to jazz up the sport.

And the jazziest team in the refurbished NHL has been the Red Wings.

It is a shame that their remarkable season is being downgraded to second in newsworthiness. They are the best team in this tarnished sports league.

To me, the Red Wings’ durability through the past dozen years is an astonishment.

In 1994-95, they weathered the labor-stricken season to qualify for the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in three decades.

Two years later, they won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years. The next year, they won the Cup again. And then they won it for the third time in seven years in 2002. They did it with a considerable change in personnel; they did it despite the aging of such premier athletes as Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan and Nicklas Lidstrom. And they won the Cup with three different goalies - Mike Vernon, Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek.

And now after the lost season, they are the best hockey team in the world with a fourth No. 1 goalie -- Manny Legace.

The most durable and best in a sport ridden with shame