TURIN, Italy (AP) - Daniel Tjarnqvist scored twice and lifted Sweden to an easy 7-2 victory over Kazakhstan in the opening game of the men's Olympic hockey tournament Wednesday morning.

Tjarnqvist, a Minnesota Wild defenseman, matched his NHL goal output for the season - just two in 41 games - before the second period ended. He gave Sweden a 1-0 lead at 7:45 of the opening period during a delayed penalty and then stretched the advantage to 7-1 with 3:39 remaining in the middle frame.

Daniel Alfredsson and Henrik Sedin also scored in the first period when Sweden grabbed a 3-0 lead on only nine shots and enjoyed three of its nine power plays.

Yevgeniy Koreshkov scored a short-handed, breakaway goal just 17 seconds into the middle period that cut Kazakhstan's deficit to 3-1 but Sweden then blew the game open.

P.J. Axelsson of the Boston Bruins scored at 8:47 and Toronto captain Mats Sundin made it 5-1 with a beautiful rush up the ice only 2:21 later. He split both defensemen in the Kazakhstan zone before ripping a shot past goalie Vitaly Yeremeyev - a former draft pick of the New York Rangers.

Sweden, which has finished fifth in three of the previous five Olympic games, extended the lead when Daniel Sedin - Henrik's twin brother and Vancouver Canucks teammate - scored with 4:29 left in the second.

Vladimir Antipin made it 7-2 at 8:33 of the third period.

Stefan Liv, the only Swedish goalie not in the NHL, made 12 saves, including turning aside Konstantin Shafranov on a breakaway.

Sweden didn't miss Philadelphia Flyers forward Peter Forsberg, who is nursing a groin injury that forced him to sit out his last eight NHL games. The earliest Forsberg is expected to play is Saturday against Latvia, the Swedes' third game in the Group B pool.

Yeremeyev made 27 saves for Kazakhstan, which has only two NHL players on its roster in the country's second Olympic appearance.