DETROIT -- The brother story gets old for one, but not the other.

Which pretty much sums up Brendan Smith and Reilly Smith.

Any time Boston plays Detroit, the Boston Bruins' Reilly Smith faces off against the Detroit Red Wings' Brendan. And they both have to answer questions about playing against each other.

"Yeah, it gets old," Reilly, 23, said with a laugh. "It doesn't get old playing against him. Maybe it gets old answering questions about playing against him."

Brendan, 25, disagrees.

"I don't think so," he said. "It's always fun to play against him. It's still pretty new. We haven't played each other that much. Altogether, I think it's 12 times. You always prepare to play against him. He's good competition. He's a really good player. Their team is great. Our team is great, so it hasn't gotten old hearing about the brother stuff."

During the summer, the two lived together. Reilly gave Brendan a hard time about the Bruins' beating the Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.

"It was fun. The first couple of weeks he gave me a razzing, kind of chirped me about winning and beating us -- whatever," Brendan said. "I didn't really hear too much of it because I plugged my ears. We have a really close bond, a close friendship, but brothers will be brothers and there was razzing. But it was a great summer and I love being with him."

Reilly gave his brother a hard time about his decision to challenge Bruins captain Zdeno Chara to a fight during the playoffs.

"Yeah, he told me, 'That wouldn't have been my first guy.' Whatever," Brendan said with laugh. "He understood because of the emotion at that time, the playoffs, all that stuff. He knows what I'm like. More or less, you're trying to back your team up and he understood that. But, yeah, there was more razzing about that, too."

When training camp began and Reilly did not have a contract due to Boston's salary-cap issues, Brendan lent his support to his brother.

"We talked a lot," Brendan said. "Obviously, it was really frustrating for him and I was there with him, trying to help him out, giving him some tips, but it was definitely frustrating when you can't come to good terms. The cap issue was the biggest problem there, but I'm glad that he's back playing."

Reilly appreciated the advice.

"It was good. It was helpful," Reilly said. "He went through a little bit of the same process, but he was a good sounding board, for sure. He bounces ideas right back off me as much as I do him. It was a process I had never been through, so any advice you obviously take, and his I'm pretty confident it's good advice."

The brothers Smith had dinner together Tuesday night in Detroit. They mostly talked about their fantasy football team. But once the puck dropped Wednesday night, they were rivals.

"Yeah, we help each other out until we start playing against each other," Reilly Smith said.