BRATISLAVA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Five-time world champions Russia eased past Norway 5-2 in the Group B opener of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia here on Friday.

The star-studded Russian roster started strong, showing great passing skills and pushing the opponents into defense from early on.

Evgeni Malkin sent a nice saucer pass from behind the net to Yevgeni Dadonov who had no trouble scoring in the third minute and Artyom Anisimov extended the lead from close range 12 minutes later.

The cat and mouse game continued in the second period and the Russians forced their opponents to take penalties. Nikita Kucherov's and Dadonov's identical second goal on a man advantage widened the lead to 4-0.

After Nikita Gusev's goal from up high to 5-0, the Russians eased up in their efforts, which resulted in the Norwegians scoring twice thanks to Thomas Valkva Olsen and Jonas Holos, setting the final score to 5-2.