STOCKHOLM – Despite the drum-pounding enthusiasm of Latvian fans at the Globe Arena, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov debuted with a 5-2 win as Russia’s World Championship head coach on Saturday. NHL scoring champ Yevgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist.

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Russian captain Ilya Nikulin and Alexander Popov added a goal and an assist apiece, and Alexander Perezhogin had a pair of helpers.

Miks Indrasis and Kaspars Daugavins scored for Latvia, which held a 1-0 lead for more than 22 minutes but couldn’t make it stand up.

"The first part of the game was not so good for us, but a few quick goals made everything okay for us, and then we took the game into our hands," said Bilyaletdinov.

Boasting two of the world’s premier talents in Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk – plus Yevgeni Kuznetsov of the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk, arguably the best player anywhere under age 20 – Russia came into this game strongly favoured to win. The Russians won back-to-back world titles in 2008 and 2009, and are expected to vie for top spot again this year.

Latvian goalie Edgars Masalskis had a busy night as Russia registered a 40-26 edge in shots.

After the teams opened by trading ineffective power plays, Latvia got the best early scoring chance on a dazzling solo foray by Mikelis Redlihs midway through the period. But his backhand deke was stymied by Russian netminder Semyon Varlamov.

The Latvians got the scoring started at 11:32 when Miks Indrasis wobbled a slapper past Varlamov from the top of the left faceoff circle on the rush. It was the first IIHF World Championship goal ever for the 21-year-old HK Riga forward, making his senior debut here in Stockholm.

The Russians strove to push back for the rest of the first period, but couldn’t get away from the tenacious checking prescribed by Latvian head coach Ted Nolan, another World Championship first-timer.

Alexei Yemelin put one off the crossbar early in the second period as Russia continued to press. Masalskis went the extra mile to guard his net, charging out to catch a puck in the slot as he toppled over fallen defenders near the halfway mark. He had to be sharp to foil Malkin on a partial break.

With Redlihs off for tripping, the Russians drew even with a power play marker by Nikulin at 13:45. Nikulin, a seven-time World Championship participant, sent a drive from the blueline that tipped off a challenging Andris Dzerins and sailed past Masalskis.

The man advantage success continued with 3:31 left in the middle frame. Malkin worked a give-and-go perfectly with Nikulin and banged the puck in before Masalskis could get back across.

"When they took the lead, it broke us down a bit mentally, and  we could not come back like we wanted," said Latvia's Janis Sprukts.

Early in the third period, Varlamov was shaken up when Aleksejs Sirokovs and Martins Cipulis crashed into him, but he would stay in the game.

"As the game moved on I felt a lot better," said Varlamov. "I definitely feel better now after we won the game and got some points."

At 5:03, Malkin made it 3-1 Russia when he carried the puck into the zone, got it to Popov, and then went to the net to convert the loose disc to the right of Masalskis.

"There are 29 teams in the NHL that try to stop Malkin every day," said Nolan. "These guys are top players in the world. We did well in the first period against these guys, but a game is three periods."

Russia grabbed a 4-1 lead at 10:53 of the third. Alexander Perezhogin darted down left wing and fed the puck in front to Popov, who made no mistake.

The Latvians got a little life with 4:39 left when Daugavins zinged home a high wrister from the right faceoff circle on the man advantage. But Kuznetsov killed off their momentum just 1:32 later, hurtling into the Latvian zone and flinging a high wrister over the glove of Masalskis. This was the first World Championship goal ever for the MVP of the 2011 World Juniors in Calgary.

Prior to this game, in the post-Soviet era of World Championship competition, Latvia had beaten Russia twice (3-2 in 2000, 2-1 in 2003) and lost twice (7-5 in 1998, 6-1 in 2009).

LUCAS AYKROYD