Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph is ready for a new experience in Montreal

P.O Joseph has all of 22 NHL games on his resume.

In that sense, the 23-year-old hasn’t even shot his age yet.

So, the left-handed Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman doesn’t have much experience to draw from.

But he has had some first-hand on-ice involvement in a Penguins game at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

As a sixth-grader.

Prior to Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal round between the Penguins and Canadiens, Joseph, a native of Laval in the Montreal suburbs, was one of two children chosen to hold a team flag near the runway from the home dressing room. Wearing a full Canadiens uniform, including skates, Joseph stood to the left of the gate as his idols darted onto the ice to roaring applause from a voracious home crowd.

A few players tapped Joseph and the other child on their legs with their sticks, and Canadiens defenseman Jaroslav Spacek even gave each of them a fist bump.

The Canadiens won that game 4-3 and eventually won the series, also 4-3. Three members of that Penguins team are now Joseph’s teammates: forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang.

“I still have the video,” Joseph said. “That was a fun time. I was able to see some of these guys (Penguins) but with the Montreal Canadiens jersey. That was probably one of the highlights of being on the ice there.”

Joseph has a chance to generate some more highlights Monday. Barring anything unforeseen, Joseph will play his first game as an NHL player in Montreal.

“It’s going to be a lot of emotions,” Joseph said. “It’s been a place that I’ve been so many times. … It will be fun and exciting, and it will be fun to share with these guys in this room (teammates).”

Sharing it with his family and friends might be a more difficult task logistically as tickets to Canadiens games are typically difficult to come by in hockey-mad Montreal.

“I told my mom to just make me a list, and we’ll figure it out from there,” Joseph said with his trademark smile.

Joseph is still figuring out life as an NHLer. He opened the season on the Penguins’ NHL roster for the first time in his professional career after spending the previous three seasons primarily with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Through the first two games, he has been stationed on the third pairing with veteran right-handed Jan Rutta. According to Natural Stat Trick, the duo has logged 21 minutes, 37 seconds of common five-on-five ice time while being on the ice for 20 shot attempts for and 19 against.

“So far, so great, I guess, with him,” Joseph said. “We’re getting to build a great relationship off the ice. It starts there for me, and it just shows on the ice how close we are.”

An overall chemistry as a five-man unit was on display with Joseph during Saturday’s 6-2 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. In that contest, Joseph recorded a secondary assist — and his first point of the season — on the Penguins’ fourth goal, scored by forward Jeff Carter.

After Carter won a defensive zone draw in his own left circle, Joseph, by design, rimmed the puck off the end boards, behind the net and to the right point. From there, Penguins forward Danton Heinen lifted the stick of Lightning defenseman Philippe Myers. That allowed the puck to slide up ice to the far blue line, where Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen claimed it, pushed into the offensive zone and pulled up in the left circle. Drawing in Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, Kapanen fed the puck to an onrushing Carter who slipped a clever forehand shot past the right leg of goaltender Brian Elliott.

“We have different options that we run off of (defensive) zone faceoffs coming out,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We mix them up so we’re not predictable for our opponents yet we’re predictable for each other.”

Joseph executed his portion of that sequence precisely as schemed.

“Yes, he did,” Sullivan said. “That’s a big part of it. Everybody’s got to do their job, and that’s an important aspect of that play.”

Part of Joseph’s job Monday will be to focus on the details of his role and not the amplified sensation of playing against his hometown team for the first time.

Simultaneously, the emotions Joseph is bound to experience Monday aren’t necessarily an impediment.

“I hope he enjoys every second of it,” said Letang, a native of Montreal who serves as a mentor to Joseph. “When you have chills and you have little butterflies in your stomach, it’s a good feeling. You have to enjoy those moments. It’s fun to have your family, your friends in the stands.

“I hope he’s going to remember that one.”

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