Joe Pavelski of the United States, center, celebrates a goal by teammate Ryan Malone in the second period of the Americans' 3-1 preliminary round men's hockey victory over Switzerland Tuesday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — So much for a lack of Olympic experience. After a workmanlike win over Switzerland in the opener, the U.S. men's hockey team is suddenly loaded with it.

Bobby Ryan scored late in the first period, and David Backes and Pittsburgh area native Ryan Malone added goals in the second to help the youngest collection of American hockey players since the NHL began supplying talent for the 1998 Nagano Games top Switzerland 3-1 Tuesday.

This group of Americans has an average age just above 26.

"I'm sure some of these guys were nervous," U.S. general manager Brian Burke said. "This is the big stage. This is Broadway."

The roster boasts three players who have been previous Olympians. After a slow start through a chess-match opening period, the Americans turned talent and physical play decidedly in their favor.

That and a three-goal lead helped the jitters go away.

"Once I scored, I was able to settle down and come back into my own a little bit," the 22-year-old Ryan said. "You definitely don't want to come from behind early. To get the lead, I think it settled the game down quite a bit for us."

The United States avoided a repeat of an opening-game letdown. During the 2006 Turin Games, the Americans began with a 3-3 tie against Latvia and never challenged for a medal.

Ryan Miller, considered the key to the U.S. chances to reach the podium, made 14 saves. He turned aside the handful of scoring opportunities the Swiss created and complied with rules barring corporate sponsorships by covering the words "Miller Time" on his mask.

His only blemish came with 10:15 remaining when a pass attempt by Roman Wick struck the goalie's outstretched stick and tantalizingly trickled behind him for a power-play goal.

"The boys did a good job in a tight first period," Miller said. "Both teams were feeling it out. We created really well in the second."

With only goalie Jonas Hiller and defenseman Mark Streit as regular NHL players, Switzerland put up some early resistance but couldn't sustain it. Hiller, Ryan's teammate on the Anaheim Ducks, stopped 21 shots. He faced only two in the third period.

Just when it seemed Switzerland might get even at 1, Miller fought off a bouncing puck between his pads and got a rush started the other way. Backes streaked down the left side, cut inside of defenseman Yannick Weber, and used a backhand-to-forehand shift to beat Hiller at 5:52 of the second.

The Americans needed only 2:08 more to make it 3-0 as Malone found a rebound of Ryan Suter's shot and slipped it between Hiller's pads for a power-play goal.

"I thought we might have a chance, but in the end, we just weren't solid enough," Hiller said.

Canada 8, Norway 0

Jarome Iginla and Dany Heatley scored twice and heavily favored Canada overcame some early nervousness and a scoreless first period to roll over Norway in its highly anticipated Olympic hockey opener Tuesday.

The Canadians are so deep and balanced that 15 players figured in their first six goals. Sidney Crosby had three assists in his Olympic debut as Canada showed off the offensive strength it lacked in Turin four years ago, when it was shut out in three of its final four games while finishing seventh.After Iginla scored on a power play 2:30 into the second period, Canada kept the goals coming since goal differential figures in determining the quarterfinal-round seeding. Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Rick Nash and Corey Perry also scored in a game that, by the end, was reminiscent of Canada's 10-0 win over Norway in 1992.Russia 8, Latvia 2Alex Ovechkin scored late in the first period to give the Russians a three-goal lead and early in the third to restore a four-goal cushion to set up a six-goal rout against Latvia on Tuesday night.The Latvians avoided a shutout when Herberts Vasiljevs scored in the opening seconds of the final period.The Russians responded with two goals — including Danis Zaripov's second — in less than a minute to restore order in their Vancouver Games opener.Evgeni Malkin tallied a goal and an assist.Russia's Evgeni Nabokov made 18 saves, and Edgars Masalskis stopped 37 shots for Latvia.The Russians are a popular pick to win Olympic gold for the first time since 1992. They have some of the NHL's top talent on their roster and loaded up the team with many players from the KHL.

Sidney Crosby had three assists in his Olympic debut Tuesday as Canada beat Norway 8-0 in a preliminary round men's hockey game.