Joseph impresses, picks up first point in NHL debut

Pierre-Olivier Joseph said that Friday was a "rollercoaster" for him.

After injuries to Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola in Wednesday's game, a door opened for the 21-year-old defenseman to make his NHL debut in just his second professional season.

"Whenever the time is going to be, I'm just going to be ready," Joseph said after Thursday's practice, before it was official that he was going to play Friday. "You can't think about it too much, you just got to keep working and one day your time will come and you're just going to go from there."

That time came on Friday. The Penguins elevated Joseph from the taxi squad to the main roster before the game and announced that he would be slotted in on the third pairing alongside Chad Ruhwedel.

He was in the lineup. 

And as is customary when a player is making his NHL debut, the evening started with the "rookie lap," when the player making his debut takes the ice first for warmups and his teammates allow him to do a lap or two on his own around the ice before joining him:

"It made me less nervous that there were no people in the stands," he said with a laugh when asked about the tradition.

Expectations were high for Joseph, one of the Penguins' top defense prospects since he was acquired from Arizona in the Phil Kessel trade in 2019.

And in this debut, a game in which the Penguins prevailed 4-3 in a shootout over the Rangers, Joseph lived up to the hype.

Joseph grew more comfortable as the game went on. His first two shifts he seemed a little unsure of himself, once nearly letting a puck get past him at the blue line because he kept turning his head to look back at the bench, presumably to see if he was being called back for a change. But from then on, he really looked comfortable, like someone who belongs playing at this level. He has a long reach with his size, and from the beginning did a good job of using that reach to break up chances and force Rangers skaters to the outside:

"I just think I kept it simple, didn't do too much," Joseph said afterward of what he thought he did well in the game. "Just react off the game, the speed, guys are different. I played my game and I just want to build from that."

Midway through the second period, shortly after the Rangers scored three goals in a span of 3:01, Joseph did his part to help swing the momentum in the other direction by drawing a penalty. He shoved Brendan Lemieux into the corner, and Lemieux was hit with a tripping call when he retaliated against Joseph:

Joseph recorded three shots on goal, the most of any Penguins defensemen in the game:

With the Penguins trailing 3-2 in the third, Joseph fired another shot from the point that went just wide of the net and bounced off the end boards to an open Teddy Blueger, who buried it to tie the game and ultimately force overtime:

"It's good that it tied the game, and to make that point behind me," Joseph said of the point. "But the most important thing right now is the 'W,' I was really happy with first game, first 'W.' The two points counts a lot."

Joseph's older brother Mathieu, a forward on the Lightning, joked on Twitter after the goal that P.O now leads him in assists for the season.

(To Mathieu's credit, he has two goals in three games to start the season, which isn't quite so bad.)

For his efforts in his debut, Joseph was awarded the team MVP of the game helmet, chosen by previous recipient Blueger.

I asked Mike Sullivan after the game what he thought of Joseph's performance.

"I thought he had a terrific first game in the NHL," Sullivan said. "You know, he was skating. I thought he made some nice, subtle plays to help us get out of our end. You could see his skating ability, how strong of a skater he is. He's got a long reach, I thought he defended hard. And he played within himself, he kept the game simple. I thought he had a terrific game."

Another glowing review came from Kris Letang, who said that he "didn't have to tell (Joseph) much except to have fun" because of how ready he was.

"I think he played really well," Letang said. "He's a solid, two-way defenseman. He looked like he played 10 years in the league, you know? He's so calm and composed, and we saw that he can bring some offense. He played really well. He's a great person, I think everybody was pretty happy for him."

I asked Joseph after the game what his emotions were like after not only playing his first game, but scoring his first point,

"It was a lot of emotion," he said. "The guys have been great with me in the room. I feel like I was part of the team, first game and all. There's a lot coming I think and I'm just happy that it's behind me now."

"Today and yesterday, I felt like my nervous level was pretty high," he added. "Once the game started it's hockey. I've been playing this sport forever. I just told myself to enjoy the first one, because it only comes once. The boys on the bench just really made me feel comfortable out there. I'm really happy."

With three of the Penguins' left-handed defensemen out "week-to-week" or "longer-term," Joseph has a clear spot in the lineup for the foreseeable future. And once the Penguins start to get healthy on the back end, he could force the coaching staff to have to make some pretty difficult decisions.