Sweden began defence of their Olympic title in men’s hockey by beating Germany 2-0 as Henrik Lundqvist had his first Olympic shutout on Wednesday night.

Mattias Ohlund scored the first goal for Sweden in the second period on a power play while teammate Loul Eriksson got his first of the tournament.

Lundqvist turned away 21 shots by Germany to secure their opening win while German goaltender Thomas Greiss turned away 23 shots.

Sweden brought to Vancouver a star- studded line up to contend for a chance to repeat gold.

The German team began their Olympic quest on an aggressive note as they forechecked and made it hard for the Swedes to get going.

It was an overall even first period, with neither team finding the back of the net, but the Germans could not contend with the Swedish fast forwards.

Johnny Oduya of Sweden hit Marco Sturm from behind and received a two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct that put the Germans on a 5-on-3 for 59 seconds.

Two shots got through the Swedish defence only to hit the crossbar and the goal post. Germany was unable to capitalize on their chances.

Marcel Muller of Germany was also sent to the box serving two for checking from behind and a 10-minute misconduct. Sweden converted on the power play, a goal from Ohlund from the top of the circle.

The German bench were up in arms over the goal, as they thought there should have been a goalie interference penalty called as Daniel Sedin backed into the German goaltender.

The goal however, didn’t seem to blow Germany’s confidence as they continued to press and play physical.

Sweden’s second goal came in the third period when Nicklas Backstrom skated across the crease to pass it to Eriksson who scored, ending any chance of a German comeback.

Germany started to come on strong late in the third period, giving the Swedish defence a hard time but it was too little too late.