The Montreal Impact built a three-goal lead and then barely hung on for a 3-2 victory over Toronto FC in a wild opening game of their MLS Eastern Conference final that was delayed 30 minutes by a groundskeeping error on Tuesday night.
Dominic Oduro, Matteo Mancosu and Ambroise Oyongo put Montreal in front in the opening 53 minutes, but Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley answered back with goals before a roaring sellout crowd of 61,004 at Olympic Stadium.
While Montreal will take a lead into the second leg of the two-game, total goals series on Nov. 22 at BMO Field, Toronto picked up two all-important away goals that can serve as the tiebreaker. A 1-0 or 2-1 TFC win in the second leg at home would win Toronto the series.
Montreal looked well on its way to crushing TFC in a playoff match for a second year in a row, having beaten their closest rival 3-0 in the single-game knockout round in October, 2015 _ a result Toronto players vowed to avenge.
The match got off to an embarrassing start for the home side as the lines for the 18-yard boxes were too narrow and had to be repainted before the game could begin. Fans cheered as each new line was drawn.
They got louder as Montreal used two quick attacks against the flat-looking TFC to take the lead.