Holtby, Murray admire each other in midst of playoff rivalry

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby and Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray will line up at opposite ends of the ice as adversaries in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
But there is a mutual admiration between the two that some might call a friendship.

"I think he views things pretty similar to me in a lot of areas," Holtby said Wednesday.
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Holtby and Murray met two years ago through former Capitals and Penguins defenseman Steve Oleksy.
Holtby, 28, was in his sixth season with the Capitals when Murray broke into the NHL with the Penguins as a 21-year-old rookie in 2015-16. Murray admired Holtby, the 2016 Vezina Trophy winner and a finalist again last season, and was eager to talk shop with him.
"He's a guy you want to be as an NHL goalie," Murray said, "a guy that when I first started I wanted to pick his brain a little bit."

So they got together for coffee, talked about goaltending, and found they had some similar interests such as music -- each plays the guitar -- and fashion, and their mental approach to the game.
"I wouldn't say we're best buddies or anything like that," Murray said. "He's just a guy I really look up to and a guy I wanted to get to know a little bit."
Holtby downplayed their relationship as simply being part of the goaltenders' union, and said he and Murray don't communicate much over the course of the season other than when they see each other.
"I think we share some mutual interests and we're both pretty close friends with Steve," Holtby said. "There's always that. That's the hockey thing."
Those things get pushed aside during a Stanley Cup Playoff series, particularly one between two rivals like the Capitals and Penguins, but the respect remains.
Murray, 23, won the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons. He helped the Penguins defeat the Capitals in six games in the 2016 Eastern Conference Second Round, edging Holtby in that series by going 4-2 with a 2.40 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
Holtby didn't play poorly, going 2-4 with a 2.57 GAA and .923 save percentage.

"I like his demeanor in the net," Holtby said. "He's calm and uses his body well, makes hard stuff look easy sometimes. … He's obviously extremely talented. For a young guy, mentally you can tell he gets it."
Murray is equally complimentary of Holtby, particularly for the way he handled himself when he briefly lost his starting job to Philipp Grubauer at the start of these playoffs. After Grubauer started the first two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Capitals lost twice, Holtby took back the net and the Capitals won four in a row.
Holtby rebounded from a subpar regular season, when his 2.99 GAA and .907 save percentage were the worst of his NHL career, to save 137 of 147 shots against the Blue Jackets for a 1.92 GAA and .932 save percentage.
"He's one of the best in the world," Murray said. "He's a tough competitor. He's tough mentally. So he's a guy I really look up to. He's one of the best, and he showed it."
Murray went through something similar last season, but from the other side. When he was unable to play in last season's second-round series against the Capitals because of an injury, Marc-Andre Fleury stepped in and helped the Penguins win in seven games.
After Murray was healthy, he reclaimed his starting job from Fleury and the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup again. When Holtby lost his job to Grubauer, he remembered how well Fleury handled the situation and how he supported Murray.
"I think there's a little bit to learn in any situation, even from afar," Holtby said. "When you see guys that do such a good thing for their team and for the sport and teach good lessons to kids and people, you take notice of that and try to learn from that as well."
NHL.com correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report.