Milan ¨C Germany secured its first win of the women¡¯s Olympic ice hockey tournament, beating Japan 5-2 on Saturday, while host Italy lost 6-1 to Sweden.

Germany scored 44 seconds into the contest when forward Luisa Welcke rifled the puck toward the goal ?and captain Daria Gleissner tapped in the rebound from close range at ?Milano Rho ?Ice Hockey Arena in the Group B match.

Forward Emily Nix put Germany 2-0 ?up midway through the period when she slipped through the Japanese defense and flipped an easy wrist shot around goalie Miyuu Masuhara and Nicola Hadraschek shot it through the five-hole less than five minutes later.

Germany kept its foot on the gas in the second ?period, when Hadraschek¡¯s point shot ricocheted off Masuhara¡¯s chest and into the goal in the sixth minute and alternate captain Laura Kluge hit one in off the crossbar about ?five minutes later.

Japan injected life into the game with two goals in 22 seconds late in the second period, courtesy of ?forwards Mei Miura ?and Yumeka Wajima, but German goalkeeper Sandra Abstreiter stopped the ?Japanese momentum in the final period.

Smile Japan, which won its opener on Friday over France, will hope to tune out the ?home ?fans as they next play Italy on Monday, when Germany faces France.

Italy had opened with a 4-1 win over France on Thursday but was brought back down to earth at the Santagiulia arena by the Swedes, who made it two wins from two following a 4-1 victory over Germany.

Jessica Adolfsson put Sweden ahead 10 minutes into the contest, Sofia Lundin doubled her side¡¯s lead 10 minutes into the second period and Sara Hjalmarsson added a third two minutes later.

Franziska Stocker pulled one back for the Italians later in the end of the second period but Sweden restored its three-goal cushion just over a minute later through Hanna Olsson.

Thea Johansson netted twice in ?the third period to round out the win and Sweden can clinch a place in the last eight with a victory over France on Sunday.

The top three in Group B make the quarterfinals.