Toronto Marlies starting goaltender Garret Sparks made an early case for the save of the year in his team’s 4-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Friday night.
Twice.
The 24-year-old was tested early in the first period when Crunch defenceman Matt Bodie was left wide open in the slot. With only netting to look at, Bodie was somehow denied by a sprawling Sparks, who managed to rob his opponent with the glove.
Later in the period, former Lightning forward Cory Conacher was seemingly forgotten about in front of the net for another glorious Crunch scoring opportunity. In dramatic fashion, Sparks once again laid out for an unthinkable glove save.
Here's a look at both saves back-to-back.
Syracuse should really think about testing the blocker side next time.
There have already been an array of solid stops so far in the young 2017-18 hockey season. Just recently, Ottawa Senators prospect Joey Daccord made a ridiculous stop in a dramatic game between Arizona State and Omaha in NCAA action.
Ridiculous.
Sparks would go onto finish the game with 29 saves on 31 shots in a 4-2 victory to improve his record to 4-1 on the season. Former Colorado Avalanche starter Calvin Pickard was recently acquired by the Leafs organization, but it doesn’t look as though he’ll steal Sparks’ job if the latter continues to showcase highlight reel saves like the ones from last night.
Which of the two did you find to be the nicer stop?
(H/T r/Hockey)
