The opening games of the Olympics couldn't have gone much better for Avalanche players, except for Matt Duchene, who was a healthy scratch Thursday when Canada defeated Norway 3-1.
Duchene, Colorado's leading scorer with 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists) in 55 games, is expected to play Friday when Canada meets Austria. The fact that he didn't suit up Thursday just reinforces the fact that Canada has such a deep talent pool.
Team USA's Paul Stastny, Russia's Semyon Varlamov and Sweden's Gabriel Landeskog all played well for their victorious teams in their first games.
Stastny, playing on the Americans' so-called fourth line, scored two goals in a surprisingly easy 7-1 rout against Slovakia. The Max Pacioretty-Stastny-T.J. Oshie line combined for two goals, three assists, seven shots and a plus-6 plus/minus rating.
Stastny had three shots in 13:46 of ice time and won seven of 13 faceoffs. He knocked in the rebound of Pacioretty's shot for his first goal and drove to the net to convert a pass from former teammate and current St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for his second and a 5-1 lead.
"For the first time on the big ice for most of us, I thought we did pretty well," Stastny told reporters. "Our strengths are our puck possession and our speed, and we were really able to use both of them. All four lines just kind of clicked, and so did our D-men."
Another former Avalanche teammate, goalie Peter Budaj, replaced Jaroslav Halak for Slovakia after Stastny's second goal. Budaj stopped two of eight shots after Halak gave up five goals on 25 shots.
Varlamov wasn't tested much in Russia's 5-2 win against Slovenia, which made its Olympic debut and has just one current NHL player, Kings star Anze Kopitar. Varlamov made 12 saves and will face a lot more shots if he plays Saturday against the U.S. It isn't known if the Russians will go with Varlamov or with the Columbus Blue Jackets' Sergei Bobrovski in goal.
Landeskog made his Olympics debut Wednesday when Sweden defeated the Czech Republic 4-2. An alternate captain, Landeskog had an assist, one shot on goal and was a plus-2 while playing on the top line with Henrik Zetterberg and Alexander Steen.
Sweden plays Friday against Switzerland, which defeated Latvia 1-0 on a last-second goal. Zetterberg, who has been experiencing back problems, didn't practice Thursday.