MONTREAL — The Montreal Impact threw everything at Bill Hamid, but nothing was getting past the D.C. United goalkeeper on Saturday night.
Chris Rolfe scored early and Hamid shut the door with several glittering saves as first-place D.C. won 1-0 to hand Montreal a rare home defeat.
The Impact outshot United 25-1, including 8-1 in shots on target.
"It isn’t the shots, I just felt we dominated the game," said Montreal coach Frank Klopas. "There was a mistake early on but the only thing missing was a goal.
"We played well as a team, we made good decisions. That’s the frustrating part. It’s a missed opportunity."
United (13-7-5) posted a third straight victory while the Impact (8-9-4) ended a three-game unbeaten run. Montreal played the top two teams in the East at home in the week, but came away with only one point from a 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls.
While awaiting the debut of their star acquisition Didier Drogba, the Montreal attack poured it on after falling behind in the 13th minute to no avail.
"You have to be in rhythm to score goals and I don’t think we were in rhythm tonight," said midfielder Dilly Duka.
With central defender Laurent Ciman sitting out a one-game suspension, the Impact started a young back line that was victimized early when Victor Cabrera mishandled a ball under pressure and Jairo Arrieta slid it to Rolfe, who went in alone and beat Evan Bush.
It was Rolfe’s third goal in two games, having scored twice in a 6-4 win over Salt Lake last week. His ninth of the season tied his 2008 career high.
Hamid, the 2014 MLS ‘keeper of the year, was in top form returning from a four-game absence with a hand injury.
He stopped Andres Romero from close range twice and thwarted a Dominic Oduro attempt before the intermission.
There were more chances in the second half, including Johan Venegas bouncing a header just over the bar from a Marco Donadel corner kick in the 54th and Oduro being stopped again inside the area in the 73rd. Hamid made diving saves on Ignacio Piatti and Venegas late in the game.
Eric Miller did a dance in the penalty area to open some space, but then just missed the top corner with his shot.
"He seemed to shake the rust off pretty quickly," said Davy Arnaud, the former Impact captain now patrolling midfield for D.C. who scoffed at the scoresheet.
"I think it says three points to zero too," he sad. "We won 6-4 last week and everyone was complaining about us giving up too many goals. We don’t concede a goal this week and we’re talking about only getting one shot."
With three games in an eight-day span, the Impact had regular starters Duka, Donny Toia and Calum Mallace on the bench. Miller, Eric Alexander and Johan Venegas started, while Wandrille Lefevre filled in for Ciman. Duka subbed in for Alexander in the 65th.
Donadel returned from a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation only to be cautioned again in the 75th minute. Piatti and recent signing Venegas, with his second in as many MLS games, also saw the yellow, which had Klopas seething.
"We had eight fouls and got three yellow cards and D.C. commit 20 fouls and they get one (actually two)," said Klopas. "This has got to stop.
"It’s ridiculous. Enough is enough. Call the game both ways."
The game began with many among the 18,769 at Saputo Stadium chanting the name of sparingly used Impact midfielder Patrice Bernier, who has taken time away from the team to reflect on his future.