Hail To The King!

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Lundqvist Posts Shutout as Sweden Takes Opener

In their first game of these Olympics, Team Sweden took their first step towards defending their gold medal by beating Germany 2-0, despite a sluggish jump out of the starting gate.

Henrik Lundqvist registered his first Olympic shutout, stopping all 21 shots he faced. He had a little help from the goal posts as Germany fired a couple of dingers to open up the second period. Shortly thereafter, Sweden’s Mattias Ohlund fired a shot from the left circle that found its way past German net minder Thomas Greiss, to put the Swedes up 1-0 at 4:20. Tobias Enstrom and Mattias Weinhandl assisted with the goal, but a third assist should have been given to Daniel Sedin.

A hometown hero of sorts, the Vancouver Canucks star sprinted towards the front of the net to screen Greiss hindering his chances to make the save. Despite Greiss’ protest that Sedin should have been called for interference, the power play goal stood up and turned out to be the game winner in a contest that saw one successful power play in exactly 40 penalty minutes.

"At the beginning of the game, we were nervous and anxious," said Lundqvist of the Swedes lethargic start, "But we didn't panic."

Loui Eriksson added an insurance goal at 14:13 of the second after tapping in a pass from Nicklas Backstrom from the left side of the net. Despite playing well defensively, Germany had a 5-on-3 power play that they couldn’t convert on.

"It was a couple inches away from being a different game," Ehrhoff said of his second period shot that hit the goal post. "That was a key moment because after that, they scored on the power play."

Sweden’s next game is Friday against Belarus at 3 p.m. while Germany takes on Finland in the night cap.

He’s Baaaack! Jagr Nets Game Winner as The Czech Republic Downs Slovakia 3-1

Jaromir Jagr scored the game winner as the Czech Republic topped their former brethren of Slovakia, 3-1 in their Olympic opener. Reminiscent of the days if when he was in his NHL prime with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jagr scored at 17:56 of the second period and just two minutes later, he helped set up Tomas Plekanic’s insurance tally.

Jagr, who recently turned 38 years old shrugged off a slow start to get his team to victory. "It was tough for me," he said, grinning. "I felt like a soldier in Iraq for the first 20 minutes. Things were coming at me so fast from every direction. It's different hockey. I've got to get used to it again."

Marian Gaborik scored the lone goal for Slovakia, despite playing with an injury he sustained in practice last week when he was cut by Henrik Lundqvist’s skate. Tomas Vokoun stopped 23 shots including a one-on-one try from former NHL star Ziggy Palffy five minutes into the game that got the crowd at Canada Hockey Place going.

The Czech Republic gets a breather as they take on Latvia Friday afternoon while Slovakia is back on the ice tonight to do battle with Alexander Ovechkin and the mighty Russian juggernauts.

Fins, Hagman Crush Belarus

Niklas Hagman’s two goals helped power Finland to a 5-1 victory over Belarus in the Olympic opener for both teams. Finland goalie Mikka Kiprusoff stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced, while Finland assaulted Belarus goalie Vitali Koval with 41 shots of its own. Olli Jokinen opened the scoring with a power play goal 3:24 into the game. Valtteri Filppula and Jarkko Ruutu also added goals for the Fins while Sergei Kostitsyn scored the lone goal for Belarus.

Information from NBCOlympics.com, Vancouver2010.com and THN.com was used in this article.

THURSDAY'S SCHEDULE

USA vs. Norway 3:00 p.m. EST
Canada vs. Switzerland 7:30 p.m. EST
Slovakia vs. Russia Midnight EST