"I just bought a new place back home, and I've been at Ikea all day getting some furniture," Filip Forsberg said Wednesday via phone from Leksand, Sweden. "I have a couple buddies and my dad over here now screwing furniture together."

What's the first thing one does after winning gold at the IIHF World Championship, followed by two days' worth of celebrations? Home improvement, of course.

Fresh off scoring the shootout winner on Sunday to give Sweden their second consecutive gold medal in the annual tournament, the Predators forward and the rest of his teammates - including fellow Preds Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm - enjoyed a hero's welcome in their home country.

Forsberg and the rest of the team met Sweden's royal family in Stockholm before spilling out into a city plaza with tens of thousands of fans waiting to congratulate their fellow countrymen on their accomplishment.

"It was 1.3 million watching the final game and we have about 10 million people in our country, so more than 10 percent watched the game," Forsberg said. "It's just unreal, and we had a great experience to be a part of.

"This is the high of my career so far, but there's one thing that can beat that, and we all know what that is."

Even with a championship for his country added to his resume, the disappointing result back in Nashville just two weeks ago is still fresh in Forsberg's mind. He and his fellow Swedes looked at the opportunity to play for their country at the World Championship as a chance to head into the summertime on a positive note.

Now that they've done so, Forsberg will continue to think about what went wrong, and how he can help to rectify the situation come October.

"We have the pieces, and it just didn't go our way this year, but we've got to learn from that," Forsberg said. "Someone else is going to win the Cup and we have to face that and just use it as motivation. It's going to be frustrating watching another team have a chance to win the Cup, but at the same time, we know that could be us."

During his final press conference of the season, Predators General Manager David Poile emphasized the constant refrain he heard from his players as they departed for the season - a message to him that the Preds in the locker room want to give it another go next season with the same core group.

Forsberg confirmed that was indeed the case among his teammates, reiterating what his GM had alluded to - a fact that this team wants to stay together.

"We know we have all the pieces in the room," Forsberg said. "We never know what will happen in the summer, but at the same time it's not going to change the identity or the belief in the locker room. We know we can do it, and I'm really excited to move on with this group of guys."

After eight months of hockey, Forsberg will take a couple of well-deserved weeks off - perhaps with another Ikea run mixed in - to relax and recharge before jumping back into training. From there, the summer will fly by with a bit of motivation in every squat, every stride, every shot in his offseason regiment.

If he's learned anything in the past couple of days, it's that there's nothing better than being a champion. And he wants to recreate that feeling as soon as possible.

"It was frustrating for the team and for me, personally, for it to end the way it did with the Preds," Forsberg said. "But winning is awesome. It's the best time I've ever had here the last couple of days. I'd love to do that all over again in Nashville."