Penguins Deliver Crushing Update on Defenseman Following Nasty Injury

Things got heated in Pittsburgh this afternoon as the Penguins are hosting the Boston Bruins.

Early in the game, Bruins captain Brad Marchand went down with an injury after he was hit by Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

Unfortunately, the Bruins would later announce that Marchand was unlikely to return to the game.

This resulted in the Bruins looking for revenge on Joseph. Later in the first period, Bruins forward Mark Kastelic made a huge hit on the Penguins defenseman.

No penalties were called on the play, but Joseph was clearly stunned, staying down on the ice for several moments after the blow.

Eventually, he did get up and skate to the Penguins bench under his own power, but he went straight to the locker room.

Later, during the second period, the Penguins announced that Joseph would not return to the game and is out with an upper-body injury.

Joseph has been a mainstay on the Penguins blueline this season, appearing in 46 of 61 games.

Hopefully this injury is not too serious and he will be able to return to the team shortly.

That being said, if he does miss extended time, there likely won't be any rush to get him back on the ice as the season is already lost for his team.

However, it is certainly possible that Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was hoping to move Joseph at the trade deadline, which is now in jeopardy given his status.

We will just have to see how the team works around this injury over the course of the next week.