P.O Joseph said that he's looking at the Penguins' upcoming home-and-home series against the Senators on Wednesday and Friday as "Pens against Senators, just another game."
While the two points in the standings are what's on his mind first and foremost heading into Ottawa, these games carry a little added personal significance for Joseph and his family -- P.O is set to play his brother Mathieu for the first time at the NHL level.
Mathieu, at 25, is the elder brother by two years. He's in his first full season in Ottawa after being traded to the Senators by the Lightning in a mid-season trade last year. He missed the Senators' last 15 games with a lower-body injury, but was activated from injured reserve on Tuesday afternoon and appears to be set to return to the Senators' lineup during this pair of games against the Penguins.
"I love playing against him," Joseph said with a big grin after Tuesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex. "We hate each other on the ice, it's always good competition."
The brothers have faced off plenty before at other levels including in junior and the AHL, and their mother France Taillon told me Tuesday that she has the same message for her sons whenever they happen to play each other.
"They're so competitive, both of them in very different ways," she said. "They were always warned that it wouldn't be acceptable that they would fight each other. I was always saying that if you don't want Mommy going on the ice and bringing you out, then don't even think about doing it!"
That doesn't mean that these meetings between the brothers don't often get heated.
Both P.O and Mathieu played junior hockey in the QMJHL with the Charlottetown Islanders and Saint John Sea Dogs respectively. With both teams being in the same division, the two faced off pretty often during their time there -- a total of 11 times.
P.O recalled that it was in that very first meeting in junior that Mathieu punched him in the face during a scrum.
"He said I grabbed onto him, but I just say that his skate got tangled with mine," P.O explained. "He got really mad at it. It was a good rivalry we had in junior."
Throughout their junior careers, both brothers ended up in the penalty boxes at times for infractions committed against the other. They only played each other once in the AHL, during Mathieu's stint with Syracuse in February 2020. Both P.O and Mathieu ended in their respective penalty boxes at the same time (for unrelated infractions, neither committed against the other brother) and the two spent their time in the box on their feet yelling at each other through the glass like two long-standing rivals.
AHL
P.O and Mathieu Joseph before their first AHL game against each other in 2020.
"We always get penalties against each other," P.O said. "We love each other before the game, then hate each other after the game because we just compete against each other so hard. I feel like we know that when you go into the corner against your brother, you have to go a little harder. It's fun. It just keeps us pushing each other, really."
P.O and Mathieu went head-to-head in some battles on the ice in that game too, like in this moment where P.O forced a turnover and knocked his big brother off the puck:
Their mother France told me that they're expecting upward of 50 family members and friends to make the trip from Quebec to Ottawa for the long-awaited matchup at the NHL level, and then she and the brothers' father Frantzi will also make the trip to Pittsburgh for Friday's game at PPG Paints Arena.
"There will be family from my side and from Frantzi's side," she said of Tuesday's game. "There are a lot of neighbors and friends that are really excited and talking about it for years!"
France and Frantzi didn't miss a single one of those 11 meetings between the brothers in junior, making the nine-hour or 12-hour trip out east depending on which brother's team was the home team. When it comes to who to root for in these games, they don't find it too difficult -- they pull for both teams at the same time. One parent will wear P.O's jersey and Mathieu's team's hat, while the other parent does the opposite.
"I always said that people around us probably thought that we didn't understand a thing about the game," France said with a laugh. "We were cheering every goal! That's the way we were enjoying it."
That fun rivalry between the brothers has reached the highest stage with Mathieu in his fifth NHL season and P.O in his first full season in Pittsburgh, and their mother couldn't have sounded more proud when talking about the anticipation of the first game between the two in the NHL.
"It's not anxious, it's not excitement, it's a calm and peaceful joy," France said. "Let's embrace it. We didn't focus on it, but it's happening, so let's embrace it. We're just enjoying the journey. We've had a fantastic journey that's been offered by Mathieu and P.O."
P.O is keeping in mind the one rule his mother has for her sons in these games ... at least for now."
"It's always been a struggle with my mom with fighting and stuff like that," P.O said. "I don't think we're going to be fighting anytime soon, but you never know with the energy that we bring on the ice. I wouldn't be surprised if at one point in my career I fight against him, but for now I'll try to keep my mom happy."
