It was an intriguing approach, and possibly a key moment in the career of the man who is taking his first crack at coaching NHL players.

"I think I've got to take a lot of blame for this loss tonight," Montgomery said. "I don't think I prepared our team well enough. We weren't ready to dig in. Ultimately, that preparation falls on the head coach."

After his Dallas Stars played their worst game of the young season in a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the first-year bench boss walked out and said it was all on him.

Montgomery has great hockey ideas. They've worked previously in the USHL and in college hockey. He had a 125-57-26 record at the University of Denver and won the NCAA championship in 2017. That's why he got this gig.

So, the guess here is he knows how to formulate a game plan, how to evaluate talent, how to run a good practice. That's the stuff that probably transfers pretty easily.

But how to push the right buttons with professional athletes? Well, that's quite a bit trickier -- and possibly the most important thing he will do in this job.

Video: Monty shoulders blame for loss to Penguins

You can call it motivating or communicating or even tricking a player into doing something he probably doesn't want to. The great coaches all learn how, or they don't survive. They know how to squeeze the most out of human beings who, while very talented, can also be very complicated.

Just look at what happened Wednesday. Anton Khudobin has been spectacular in goal as a backup goalie so far this season. He entered the game with a 2.37 goals against average and .925 save percentage in seven appearances, and seemed more than ready to take over for No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop, who is nursing a lower-body injury that could keep him out for a week or more.

Khudobin was beat by a Jake Guentzel one-timer he might like back, then couldn't find an Evgeni Malkin shot quick enough through a screen. He was beat by Sidney Crosby driving the net, and then by a rebound off to the side and a big slapper in transition. He allowed five goals on 16 shots and was pulled. None of the saves would have been easy, but Khudobin had made them before. Heck, Casey DeSmith was making them at the other end of the ice for Pittsburgh.

But Montgomery was protective of the goalie who has to possibly carry his team for a little while.

"I felt bad for Dobby," Montgomery said. "He's been so great for us. They've got some of the best players in the world. They have the best player in the world, and maybe the second. They had way too much time and space to make plays. That's our team defense and our puck pressure. They make post-and-in shots…that's not Dobby. I took him out and I told him, 'Get your head up, get ready for Friday.'"

Anyone who watched the Stars disintegrate last season knows how important Khudobin is right now. They have to get significant wins from the backup goalie, and they have to possibly use him for stretches of three and four games in a row, so Montgomery's words create a pretty strong support system to get Khudobin back up and ready for Friday's game against the Senators.

Montgomery has been pretty candid in his comments to the media this season. He has said when he thinks he needs more from Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. He has said when he thinks he needs more from Brett Ritchie and Julius Honka. He has said when he thinks the team needs to better understand just how much work is needed -- in games and in practices -- to become a championship caliber team.

Video: Khudobin can't overcome shaky start in Pittsburgh

So he easily could have said Khudobin needs to be better ... but he didn't.

He could have said the same thing about Benn, Seguin and Alexander Radulov.

He wanted them to embrace the challenge of going up against Sidney Crosby, who was returning from a three-game absence due to an upper-body injury. Instead, Crosby took over the game with a goal and two assists, and the top line fumbled their opportunities. Seguin couldn't beat DeSmith on a breakaway that would have trimmed the score to 3-1. Radulov took a hooking penalty in the offensive zone that led to an early Penguins power play goal. The trio combined for five shots on goal -- one of the reasons the Stars were held under 20 for the second game in a row.

Montgomery has said he is a matter-of-fact coach -- that he'll tell players what he really thinks, and that's probably been a big part of his coaching style so far. Even after Wednesday's game, he addressed Radulov's penchant for taking penalties. Radulov has seven minors in 14 games this season. He had 36 in 72 last season, third-most in the league.

It's an area coaches have stressed that Radulov needs to improve. It's an area that has seen no improvement.

"That's just killing ourselves," Montgomery said. "We didn't have a good start and they're flying around, they go up 1-0, we can't take stick penalties. He knows that, it's something that we've worked on. A lot of times this year when he's playing well, he has a stick on the ice and he's skating the defensive side. We just can't take a hooking penalty behind their net."

That speaks to the difficulty of the job. It's something they've worked on, and yet ...

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So, as a coach, you try a different path. Who knows, behind the scenes with Radulov, he might get even tougher. There are different buttons for different players. But on Wednesday, Montgomery decided to push a big button for the whole team

He said he has to be better, the coaching staff has to be better. He took accountability for what's happening. He might be right in that regard. Despite the injuries, despite the tough schedule, this team is inconsistent and not adopting the style of play Montgomery said he wants.

So, he said he has to analyze what he has done in the first 22 games.

"You always think you prepare your team well, but clearly I didn't get the message right that we had to dig in in 1-on-1 battles," he said of a horrible start against a team that had been struggling. "I've got to analyze it a little bit further about how I try to motivate them to have a better start. Ultimately, whatever I did was wrong."

In saying that, he was also probably getting a head start on his motivation for Friday. If I'm frustrated that I'm not pushing the right buttons, maybe you players could help me out a bit.

It's a different way of looking at things.

And possibly a key moment in the young coaching career of Jim Montgomery.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.