Blackhawks need to be more decisive, make better reads to improve transition defense

SALT LAKE CITY — It’s tempting to overreact to a sample of data one game into every season.

The Blackhawks spent Wednesday trying to avoid doing that — and instead learn tangible lessons from their mistakes — after getting buzzed 5-2 on Tuesday by the Golden Knights in Las Vegas.

‘‘They’re a very good team, very experienced, and I think they had a better start than us,’’ defenseman Alex Vlasic said. ‘‘We have a lot better. Everyone in here [does].’’

Said coach Jeff Blashill: ‘‘Usually when you watch it back, it’s never as bad or as good as you think it was.’’

It was obvious, however, that the Hawks conceded too many odd-man rushes. Considering they’ll face another dangerous off-the-rush team Thursday against the Mammoth, that must be addressed promptly.

‘‘If you’re not dialed in, they can make you pay easily,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘The key thing for us is to handle those situations without getting on our heels. [It’s about] understanding when we can pressure and be right on top of them — which is when we’re best — and understanding when you just have to protect.’’

Too often Tuesday, the Hawks got caught waffling between pressuring and protecting and ended up doing neither — or took too long to choose, by which point the Knights easily could maneuver around them.

Shortly after Patrick Kane’s milestone goal in the third period, he was guilty of doing exactly that. He took accountability for it, admitting he thought a puck was coming up the boards, even though it actually stayed down low.

Kane’s poor choice to pressure gave the Knights a four-on-two rush, which Wyatt Kaiser and Sam Rinzel defended valiantly but which the Knights still converted.

Hawks defensemen struggled with that balance in other instances, too, which made life harder on the forwards. It went both ways.

‘‘They’re big on [defensemen] being decisive so the forwards can read off you,’’ Vlasic said. ‘‘If you’re going to be down, the forwards know they have to cover [for you]. But if you’re in that middle ground, it’s harder for them to figure out where they’re supposed to be and whom they’re supposed to cover.’’

That highlights one effect of the shortened training camps this year: Players had less time to familiarize themselves with their teammates’ tendencies and ingrain how to react in each situation.

That’s particularly true for the Hawks because they’re so young (12 of the 19 players who dressed Tuesday were 25 or younger) and have undergone so much recent change (10 of the 19 players who dressed weren’t on the roster at this time last year).

It makes sense that well-established teams such as the Knights would be less disadvantaged. Nonetheless, the Hawks will have to find ways to keep up with opponents of all types moving forward.

The fact that Blashill has shuffled the forward lines twice already this week probably isn’t helping in the short term, either. In the long term, it might be nice for every forward to have prior experience playing with every other forward to fall back on.

Against the Mammoth, Anton Frondell will center the first line between Kane and Tyler Bertuzzi. Roman Kantserov will center the second line between Teuvo Teravainen and Nick Lardis.

Because centers generally have more defensive responsibilities than wingers — a center is more likely, for example, to be the ‘‘F3’’ covering for a pinching defenseman — there’s extra pressure on Frondell and Kantserov to adjust rapidly to the NHL’s fast pace and smaller ice surface. Once they do, the whole operation should run more smoothly.

‘‘Last season, it felt like I was way too far away from the situation,’’ Frondell said. ‘‘I backed off because I felt that’s what I should do — because we did that in Sweden.

‘‘The more games I play, you get it more in the back of your mind what to do with those reads.’’