Kamara leads Revolution into key match vs. Impact (Sep 09, 2017)

After dropping their past two games at home, the Montreal Impact will need find points on the road if they are going to make the MLS postseason.

The Impact play five of their eight remaining games on the road, including on Saturday against the New England Revolution in Foxborough, Mass.

Montreal (10-10-6) is tied with Atlanta United for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but Atlanta holds the current tiebreaker based on goal differential.

The Impact lead the eighth-place Revolution (9-12-5) by four points in the standings.

"I see a lot of similarities with the last couple of seasons with this group, and when we've had our backs to the wall, we've been able to come through," coach Mauro Biello said Friday, according to the Montreal Gazette. "That's a positive.

"We're in a race, and we have to outperform the teams that are in front of us."

New England, 9-2-2 at Gillette Stadium this season, is coming off a 4-0 home win over Orlando City.

In the win on Saturday, Kei Kamara recorded a hat trick -- the first of his career -- for the Revolution, and Lee Nguyen became the first MLS player to record four assists in a game.

"Kei is there to score goals and he did his job tonight; we didn't," Orlando City's Giles Barnes said after the game.

New England is the sixth different team for which Kamara has played in his 11 MLS seasons.

"I'm 33. I think it came at the right time -- it just had to be a few threes in your age before you can get that," Kamara told MLSSoccer.com. "It's a relief as a striker. It was just one of those days where I felt good in warm-ups. I think I was scoring from the warm-up ... every ball was just going into the back of the net. I was like, 'Wow, this just feels like a special day today.'"

Added Nguyen: ""A good night for the boys in blue, huh? But no, it was a team effort, honestly. Any time we keep a clean-sheet, it's going to give us a chance. Credit to all the guys for putting in the shift."

The Revolution, who are winless in 13 road matches, have now won four straight at home.

"It's just the dynamic in this league -- teams have an edge at home in terms of travel, stadiums, fan base," Biello said. "All that comes into play.

"But there are some teams that have had success and we need to be that team that's capable of winning on the road. We've shown we can do it in the past and we need to try to do it now down the stretch."

The Impact are 2-5-5 away from home this season and have dates at first-place Toronto FC and Colorado, where altitude is often an issue for visitors.

Next up, however, is a home match against Minnesota United on Sept. 16.

New England plays at Atlanta United on Wednesday.