GOTEBORG, Sweden -- Ivan Tkatchenko had three goals and an assist as Russia beat Slovenia 8-1 on Friday in the Ice Hockey World Championships.

Vyatcheslav Butsayev added a goal and an assist for Russia, while Dmitri Bykov, Maxim Afinogenov, Alexei Koznev and Ravil Gusmanov each scored a goal.

Marcel Rodman ruined Egor Podomatskiy's shutout bid, scoring Slovenia's lone goal.

It was a harsh initiation into the world's elite A-Pool for Slovenia, which was outshot 42-22.

Sweden also opened with a victory, topping Austria 5-3 on goals by Niklas Andersson, Magnus Johansson, Mattias Weinhandl, Jorgen Jonsson and Daniel Tjarnqvist.

At Jonkoping, Jaromir Jagr had an assist and Viktor Ujcik scored twice as the three-time defending champion Czech Republic beat Switzerland 5-0. Also, Andreas Morczinietz had two goals and an assist in Germany's 9-2 victory over Japan.

"We used to be underdogs like Japan and lose so many games, so we learned not to take any of our games for granted," German center Stefan Ustorf said. "We don't go to any of our games thinking it's an automatic win. We try to give every game 100 percent."