'Learning every day,' Montgomery hoping lessons lead to more wins

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- We are learning a lot about the coaching style of Jim Montgomery, and the past few games show that the first-year bench boss is developing every day.
Montgomery was stern after a 2-1 overtime win against Washington on Friday in Dallas, and then was supportive after a 5-1 loss to the Jets on the road Sunday. It was an intriguing flip, but it also could have been appropriate for what he's trying to accomplish with the Stars.
Having called his players out for inconsistent effort earlier, he got a little bit of the same and a little bit of different on Sunday. His team was good for the first five minutes, on their heels for the next 15, and then were good and bad after that. The team clearly didn't deserve to lose 5-1, as the score was 3-1 for much of the third period and scoring chances were pretty much equal.
So Montgomery decided to go with praise this time.

"It's one of our better road games of the year, and we still didn't come out on top," Montgomery said. "I thought we broke pucks out well, I thought we were together in every zone, I thought we won a lot of foot races, a lot of battles. I thought we made a lot of plays off the rush. So we've just got to keep staying with it and get better."

Montgomery is dealing with a lot right now. He saw earlier in the year that the Stars struggled after a hot stretch and fell on their face in a four-game road trip. He said he doesn't want that to happen again with this three-game journey, so he implored his players to be better in Winnipeg.
And they were -- to an extent.
But the Jets were smarter, were better at executing, got better goaltending, and that won the game for them. Dallas took advantage of a hot power play to take a 1-0 lead, but a driven Jets team pushed back hard.
Then, Winnipeg scored with 1:04 left in the second period and 1:15 into the third period. It was the dreaded late goal/early goal, and it basically pushed the Jets to the win.
Stars captain Jamie Benn took blame for the early goal in the third period. He was on the ice with linemates Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov, and the Jets' line of Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor forced a favorable bounce and a Connor goal and a 3-1 lead.

"We had a pretty good 40, even though we were down by one," Benn said. "We dominated most of the second period, but you come out in the third and you don't execute a little simple play, and it's in the back of your net. That's unacceptable by myself, and it's tough to win on the road when you don't do the little things."
Benn was returning after missing one game with an upper-body injury, and Montgomery put him right back with Seguin and Radulov. While the coach has experimented with different line combinations to spread the scoring on the road, he said the trio gives Dallas the best chance to score goals away from home.
Of the Stars' 47 road goals this season, one of that trio has been on the ice for 29 of them. That's 61.7 percent, and it's the reason Montgomery said he decided not to break them up in this game.
"They carry a lot of responsibility," Montgomery said of his top players. "They get the best D pairing, and the best defensive line or whoever they think is the best matchup against them, and you can't get away from it, right, because you need them to play their minutes. That's why I think they score the goals, because they relish that challenge, and they're up for it."
Stars CEO Jim Lites called out Benn and Seguin last week and demanded more, and Montgomery said he's been impressed with how the duo has responded since then.

"They're pros. They know how to handle it," Montgomery said. "They're classy young men, and I'm fortunate to coach them. The urgency to have more of an impact in every game is something everybody would like, including me."
And Montgomery is asking for the same urgency from himself. He said he's learning how to match wits with NHL coaches and how he likes to juggle lines and get the most out of his lineup.
"It's a learning experience, and the more you're in it, the better you get. And the more you learn them, you get a book on them," Montgomery said of opposing coaches. "Just the rotation of lines, how they rotate lines, how they might double shift, and anticipating that. Having your lines ready. Our guys have to know their lines, so if one player goes over, we know which line is going. That's an example of some of the things we do to make sure we have the right guys on the ice."
Montgomery said he changes his lines a lot, because he trusts his instincts.
"I like to go with my gut behind the bench," he said. "I'd like to have more consistency, that's the next evolution of our team, especially offensively, to kind of get set lines. But we were starting to get set lines and Hanzal comes back, and he's going to make us better, but now who works best with him and how does it affect the other lines that did have chemistry. That's why over 82 games, it's good to mix them up so that when we come down the stretch and in the playoffs, everyone is used to playing with each other."

That goes the same for goalie choice or when to pull your goalie. Montgomery did it with five minutes left Sunday. The Stars had a four-on-four situation, and Montgomery pulled Ben Bishop to get an impromptu power play. He went back and forth on the decision and eventually watched as Winnipeg scored and empty netter from 180 feet.
"We were just thinking: We haven't scored yet, and we need two goals, and it puts urgency on you," he said. "It backfired, it didn't work."
But that's the life of an NHL coach, especially in his first season. Montgomery has the Stars in playoff position, and he's pushing for more. He wants to build on Sunday's loss and use it as positive motivation heading into a Tuesday game at St. Louis.
Hopefully, that strategy won't backfire. If it does, he'll try something else. It's what he has to do right now.
"I keep learning every day. I've learned a lot, but still a lot to learn," he said. "You never stop learning, it doesn't matter where, but especially for me. I'm like a baby learning how to walk. Now, I'm hoping to run, but it's a process."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.