Sweden waited eight years but finally got revenge for one of the biggest upsets in Olympic men's ice hockey with a 4-2 win over Belarus on Friday.

Daniel Alfredsson scored a pair of goals, including a late tally that sealed the win, while Daniel Sedin and Johan Franzen had one each as the reigning Olympic champions settled an old score against Belarus.

Sweden built a 3-0 lead by the midway point of the game, but memories of the 2002 Salt Lake Games came storming back when Dmitri Meleshko scored twice to pull Belarus to within a goal with just over eight minutes remaining in regulation.

But Alfredsson's late goal kept ended any hope that Belarus would pull off another stunning upset.

We got a little nervous, they were coming but I thought we handled it well, Nicklas Lidstrom, Sweden's captain, told reporters. I think it just goes to show all teams are tough to play against, especially when they have good goaltending.

One of the gold medal favorites in 2002 at Salt Lake City, Sweden failed to return home with a medal after losing 4-3 in the quarterfinals to Belarus on an infamous goal that remains one of the strangest ever seen at the Olympics.

With less than three minutes to play in that game, Vladimir Kopat blasted a ferocious slap shot that rang off the facemask of Swedish netminder Tommy Salo, flew into the air and bounced off the goaltender's back into the net for the winning goal.

The defeat resulted in an unhappy homecoming for Swedish players who were greeted by headlines of betrayal while their pictures and salaries were plastered across the front page of one of the country's biggest tabloids.

With Friday's win, Sweden improved to 2-0.