Toronto FC beats Minnesota United 3-2 for 6th straight win
TORONTO (AP) - Tosaint Ricketts scored his third goal in a week to lift MLS-leading Toronto FC to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota United and push the MLS leaders' club-record winning streak to six games.
Also Saturday, Sporting Kansas City earned 2-2 draw at Orlando to become the first team to deny the Florida-club a victory at its new stadium and Nemanja Nikolic scored a brace in the Chicago Fire's 4-1 rout of the Seattle Sounders.
At Toronto, Giovinco scored from the penalty spot in the 20th minute for his sixth of the season to give the hosts the lead, before leaving the field through injury just before half-time to be replaced by Jozy Altidore.
Kevin Molino scored twice for expansion Minnesota. He tied it in the 52nd minute only to see Toronto pull back into the lead on Christian Ramirez's own goal two minutes later. Molino tied it again in the 62nd minute, tapping in a rebound after Alex Bono saved his penalty.
Altidore set up the winning goal with a run down the left flank, beating several defenders before sending in the cross that found Ricketts' head, for his third goal in two games after scoring a brace in Toronto's 2-1 comeback victory at Columbus on Wednesday.
Toronto moved to 25 points and maintained its six-point lead atop of the Eastern Conference standings. Minnesota has 11 points and is seventh in the West.
Latif Blessing scored his first two MLS goals and Sporting Kansas City drew 2-2 at Orlando City, ending the Florida club's five-game winning streak at its new stadium.
Blessing, who had played only 36 minutes this season, scored in the ninth minute for Kansas City, cleaning up a loose ball, and equalized in the 74th on a rebound off goalie Joe Bendik.
Orlando tied it in the 16th when Carlos Rivas curled a left-footed pass from outside the box into Cyle Larin, who volleyed home for his seventh goal this season. Kaka gave Orlando the lead in the 26th with his third goal, scoring off a deep cross from Scott Sutter.
Both teams have 19 points, with Orlando having played a game more.
At Chicago, Nikolic converted from the spot in the 25th minute to open the scoring but, moments later, Seattle's Clint Dempsey blasted a left footer - from outside the box - into the top-right corner of the net to equalize.
David Accam's goal in the 60th minute restored Chicago's lead. Bastian Schweinsteiger tapped it to Michael de Leeuw, on the right side of the box, whose cross was trapped by Accam just outside the 6-yard box and fired into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Luis Solignac added a goal in the 73rd and Nikolic scored his second - and a joint MLS-leading eighth goal of the season - in the 76th minute to complete the victory.
Chicago has 15 points and is sixth in the East, while Seattle (11 points) has just one win in their last seven.
Elsewhere, Justin Meram scored his third goal of the game in added time to earn Columbus a 3-2 win at Montreal and spoiled marquee signing Blerim Dzemaili's debut.
Substitute Niko Hansen set up Meram for an easy goal on a counterattack to complete the hat trick with his seventh goal of the season. Meram scored twice in the first half to set up a two-goal lead, before Ignacio Piatti and substitute Anthony Jackson-Hamel brought Montreal level.
Haris Medunjanin's opened the scoring on a 25-yard blast and the Philadelphia Union added three more in a 4-0 victory over D.C. United, while Shkelzen Gashi scored his first two goals of the season and the Colorado Rapids ended a seven-game winless streak with a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Scott Caldwell scored in the opening minutes and the New England Revolution used a first-half blitz to rout Real Salt Lake 4-0.
Kei Kamara, Diego Fagundez and Lee Nguyen also scored as Revolution won its first in six games.