MILAN (AP) — Adding NHL talent to a group that made a deep run in an international tournament last spring, Switzerland opened the Olympics with a statement victory against France.

Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils scored twice in the third period, 39-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped all 27 shots he faced and Switzerland shut out France 4-0 on Thursday. Damien Riat scored 55 seconds in, J.J. Moser of the Tampa Bay Lightning made it a two-goal lead three minutes in and there wasn't much to worry about the rest of the way.

“It helps you a lot if you score two in the first, whatever it was, five minutes,” Moser said. "It just gives you a little bit more comfort, more confidence also for the rest of the game.”

The goals by Meier put the game out of reach after he and his teammates tilted the ice toward Keller. Meier called it “a mature performance there how we put the game away.”

With a boisterous contingent of fans in attendance, Switzerland outshot France 43-27 and sent them home happy.

A part of that was the play in net of Genoni, the 38-year-old who backstopped his country on an improbable run to the final at the world championships last spring before losing 1-0 to the U.S. in overtime. Genoni, who was tournament MVP with a 0.99 goals-against average and .953 save percentage, wasn't sweating getting a shutout and is more worried about the rest of the Olympics.

“It’s a great start,” Genoni said. “We had a really, really good start into the game and could shut the door behind. It’s a perfect start for us.”

Switzerland next plays Olympic favorite Canada on Friday.

“Obviously a big team coming up," forward Nino Niederreiter said. "We’re going to try our best to poke the bear a little bit and see if we can go from there.”

Canada faced Czechia in the other afternoon game. The U.S. opens the tournament on Thursday night against Latvia, with Connor Hellebuyck set to start in goal.

“He’s obviously an elite goalie,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. "We think we have three elite goalies. We have ultimate confidence in all three guys. These decisions aren’t easy, but we made a decision to start with Connor and we’ll go from there.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics