Garret Sparks gives emotional interview after first win in 2 years.

It has been well over a week where it has felt like we have been under a torrent of bad news in the National Hockey League with seemingly all of the talk around cancelled games or NHL teams being shut down altogether. Thankfully there are still a few games happening here and there and it just so happens that on Sunday one of the games featured a very special moment.

Garret Sparks won't be a name that many fans in the NHL recognize, but fans in Toronto will likely remember him well. Sparks was a solid netminder for a period of time with the Toronto Marlies and even served as a backup goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs for 37 games split over a pair of seasons. Unfortunately for Sparks however his time in the city of Toronto ended on a sour note when he suffered a significant injury during practice one day, a concussion that he admits derailed his career.

Following his injury in Toronto, Sparks bounced around quite a bit, playing for the Chicago Wolves of the AHL and even appearing in a single game for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, but he had lost his way. During the 2020 - 2021 season Sparks found himself playing in the ECHL and according to him he had to completely reinvent himself in order to claw his way back to the NHL, something he did last night when he picked up his first NHL win in over 2 years.

Sparks was asked who he had called following such a big moment, and he immediately got emotional when speaking of what this meant for him and his family.

"My family," said Sparks when asked who he had contacted after the win. "I have had to retool everything that I do, I just had to get my life back you know? It's more than just hockey. Just a lot of work, it's worth it though, it was worth it."

Sparks also explained what the road back for him was like.

"I suffered a pretty bad concussion in Toronto, in practice. I was having a really good season and that kinda derailed my season there and the wheels just fell off a little bit. You gotta start from the ground up and work your way back. I started in the East Coast League this time last year, I was making $600 a week, I was having a good time, just enjoying playing hockey."

For Sparks this was not just your average win however. On the other side of the ice was Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, a player that Sparks himself described as the greatest goal scorer of all time, and it seems facing that challenge was extra special for him.

"It was just crazy to be on NHL ice again and playing against the greatest goal scorer of all time and having an answer. It was cool."

He did indeed have an answer, and it came in the form of a 2.00 goals against average and a .943 save percentage last night.