Italy's Stefan Figliuzzi (left) drives on Kazakhstan goaltender Vitaliy Yeremeyev during the first period of Kazakhstan's 5-3 victory. (Hans Deryk/Associated Press)

NAGANO, Japan — Mikhail Borodulin scored the go-ahead goal with 12:16 left Saturday as Kazakhstan made its winter Olympic hockey debut by rallying to beat Italy 5-3.

Backup goaltender Alexandr Shimin took over for Vitaliy Yeremeyev at the start of the second period and stopped all six shots he faced to help Kazakhstan erase a 3-1 deficit.

Bruno Zarrillo had two goals for Italy (0-1), which was backed by the majority of fans — many of whom waved Italian flags — at the packed Big Hat arena.

Borodulin put Kazakhstan up 4-3 with a power-play goal from the left circle, taking a back-pass from Alexandr Koreshkov and beating goalie Mike Rosati low on the stick side.

Pavel Kamentsev added a short-handed goal with 3:59 remaining.

Down 3-1, Kazakhstan got a goal from Borodulin at 5:49 of the second period, then tied it with 18:18 left when Dmitri Dudarev tapped in the puck after it wriggled free from between Rosati's pads.

Kazakhstan led 1-0 before Zarrillo and Dino Felicetti scored in a 78-second span of the first period. Zarrillo made it 3-1 with five seconds left in the period, deflecting a wrist shot by Robert Nardella.

Kazakhstan will attempt to improve to 2-0 Sunday against Austria. Italy, which has not finished higher than seventh in the Olympics since 1956, next faces Slovakia on Sunday.