ST. LOUIS — Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier Joseph have bee through this before.
Thursday was a unique situation that the brothers, Mathieu, 27, and P.O., 25, will get to store in the memory bank for the St. Louis Blues.
The brothers have played in the same NHL game before as opponents with mom (France Taillon) and dad (Frantzi Joseph) in the stands watching.
The dream of playing together on the same NHL team finally came to fruition when Mathieu was traded to the Blues by the Ottawa Senators on July 2, and P.O. signed a free agent contract literally minutes later.
They were on the ice together during the preseason when the Blues played the Dallas Stars on Sept. 21, then again on Oct. 11 when the Blues played their third regular season game against the Vegas Golden Knights, becoming the seventh brother duo in Blues history to do so and first since Rich and Ron Sutter in 1991-92.
The only thing missing in those games: mom and dad being there.
That all changed on Thursday when the parents were able to make it down from the Montreal area to Enterprise Center to witness it for the first time in person, their boys on the same team, a 1-0 overtime win by the Blues against the New York Islanders.
With Frantzi and France in the stands, wearing the same NHL jersey, each donned with No. 71 (Mathieu) and No. 77 (P.O.), it was a moment as parents they will never forget.
And neither will the brothers.
“It was fun to see them making the trip,” P.O. said. “We’re a really close family. We support each other in everything we do. Just seeing them in the house, around the house, around the rink is really pleasing. It’s just fun to see them.
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“It reminds us of the hours they put in that made us who we are and what we are. It’s a little bit of recognition for them a little bit. We still have the passion that they gave us for the game. We still enjoy the game as much as we used to. We’re grateful we have support like that from our parents.”
Mathieu added, “It was good. It was pretty cool. They’ve seen a lot of those games against each other, but on the same team, it’s probably more rewarding for them definitely seeing both of us on the same team.
“We’re all family here. You play for each other. Obviously you want to see him do well, but at the end of the day, everyone is on the same boat. We play for the same squad. You want to win for the same organization. It’s really fun to have him around for sure. He’s a calming presence for me. Definitely special to be able to play together in the NHL.”
To say that the brothers were a little more amped up, to say the least, would be a understatement. They’ve played before their parents live before but on the same team, with them in attendance, there was certainly some added juice in the tank, especially for P.O., who was in full throttle mode when filtering into the offense and his willingness to shoot pucks from all angles of the ice.
“You want to show them that they didn’t come for nothing,” P.O. said. “You want to show them that we play with passion, especially coming into a new team like that, you want to show them that everything is going well and that they don’t have to worry about us, that there’s 22 guys around here that are great for us that we love to battle with. Just seeing them is a boost for sure, but it doesn’t change the fact that we want to play for the guys in this locker room first.”
P.O. had six shot attempts, including two on goal and four blocked, in 10:58 time on ice but certainly was noticeable more so than his Blues debut last Friday, in his own words.
“We’ve been talking a lot lately about rewarding the forwards,” P.O. said. “It’s not easy to go in front of the net, get cross-checked and get pucks out like that. Whenever we have a chance to get the pucks from the forwards on the point, if we can wrist the puck to the net, I think you can’t score when the puck is not in front of the net or somewhere around it. I think my way sometimes creates some offense. If it’s not from the rush or breakaway or something like that, it’s away to reward the forwards for doing a good job, just rewarding them for being in front of the net.”
Mathieu, who played 11:34 with two shots (one on goal) and two hits on Thursday after scoring his first goal with the Blues in a 4-1 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, liked his brother’s game.
“I thought he played a really good game,” Mathieu said. “He had a shooting first mentality and as forwards, we loved that when you can have the ‘D’ putting it through. I thought he broke out the puck well, his battling level was good. Beside the fact we both took back-to-back penalties, I thought he had a pretty good effort.”
What would have really made it a night was the instance in the first period when P.O. found his brother at the net with a tip drill that presented itself. A Joseph goal assisted by another Joseph would have really made things great for mom and dad, who will also be at the game Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“I saw him battling in front of the net,” P.O. said. “I was trying to give him some time to get loose. It’s something we practice in the summer time and times here, just shots and tips and stuff like that. It would have been pretty good if he got a touch on that, but he did a pretty good job just being in front of the net.”
“That was close,” Mathieu said. “It would have been good. I couldn’t really see the puck. I wish I had that one back.”
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