This home-and-home series against the Senators was surely circled on the Joseph family's calendar at the start of the year. It would mark the first time that 25-year-old Mathieu and 23-year-old P.O would play against each other at the NHL level.
"As a kid, both of us playing downstairs in the basement, and both of us being able to reach this level together is a game I'll remember for the rest of my life," Mathieu told me after the Senators' morning skate on Friday.
Really, what happened on Friday shouldn't have come as a surprise.