MLS Cup Playoffs: Key moments of the Conference Semifinal first legs

If you came to the first legs of the Conference Semifinals in the MLS Playoffs for goals, you initially came to the wrong place. If you came for hotly-contested games, however, you would have found what you were looking for all day long.

The Montreal Impact, LA Galaxy, Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders all took leads in their home match of the two-game series. In the day’s first game, the Impact beat the New York Red Bulls 1-0, the same score as the Galaxy posted to defeat the Colorado Rapids in the second contest. TFC left it late to convert its total dominance over New York City FC into a 2-0 margin going into the return game. And the Sounders took a 3-0 win over Supporters’ Shield champions FC Dallas in the nightcap.

[ MLS Cup Playoffs: Look back on the action as it happened ]

With eight teams remaining in the battle for the Major League Soccer championship, we digested the important stuff from almost nine hours of Sunday soccer.

Red Bulls better but Impact win anyway

It’s sort of become a Groundhog Day sort of thing. The Red Bulls play well in the playoffs, largely overwhelming their opponents, yet somehow sell themselves short. Jesse Marsch’s men had by far the better of the run of play against the bunker-and-counter Impact, which was fresh off its 4-2 away hammering of D.C. United in the Knockout Round.

The Red Bulls had chances right from the get-go.

And Felipe even hit the cross bar.

But the Impact had already demonstrated against United that it is in clinical finishing form right now, even with Didier Drogba sidelined through either injury or dispute (who really knows?). The red-hot Matteo Mancosu capitalized on one of the few major chances his side forged when Marco Donadel set him loose on a simple ball over the top with a splendid finish just after the hour.

The Red Bulls pushed for an equalizer.

But they never found their goal and were even reduced to 10 men when Israeli substitute striker Omer Damari was sent off for a rash and clumsy challenge late on.

The Red Bulls, who hadn’t lost in 20 games before catching this L, are still in this thing. But now they’ll have to break down a sturdy Impact defense at home to overcome the 1-0 score.

Rapids fall to Keane- and Gerrard-less Galaxy

This is about that time of year where the Galaxy tend to conjure a reserve of magic that sees them make a run at yet another MLS title. Yet in the first leg against the higher-seeded Rapids, veteran manager Bruce Arena left the newly fit-ish Robbie Keane on the bench beside the almost-sorta-fit Steven Gerrard.

That was ballsy, but after the comprehensive 3-1 defeat of Real Salt Lake in the Knockout Round, Arena didn’t want to tinker with his lineup – a highly unusual move for him. Especially if Keane couldn’t play 90 minutes or anything close to it. So the talismanic Alan Gordon remained in the lineup as the lone striker to the dismay of the jilted Irishman.

Yet it would be the Designated Players who made the difference in the game nonetheless.

Tim Howard made a pair of fine saves in goal for the Rapids.

But he was eventually beaten. About 10 minutes after halftime, center back Jelle van Damme beat his man Michael Azira with a nutmeg by the end line in the Rapids’ box. His cross found Giovani Dos Santos, whose header was oddly deflected by Axel Sjoberg and looped into the far upper 90 in one of the stranger goals you’ll see.

Just a few minutes later, the Rapids had their best chance. On a sizzling shot from distance, Jermaine Jones, coming off the bench at halftime now that he, too, is approaching something resembling fitness, Brian Rowe made a posterizable save.

That concluded the meaningful action, as Keane eventually came in for eight late minutes but had no real impact. The Galaxy will nurse their home goal when they go on the road.

NYCFC’s attempt to sabotage the game thwarted by TFC’s attack

When Andrea Pirlo was scratched from the lineup, or perhaps earlier than that, the usually aesthete New York City manager Patrick Vieira decided that this first leg in Toronto was something for his side to weather, to survive. So he set up a team, with Frank Lampard on the bench as well, to defend and try to keep a clean sheet. For a long time, it worked.

The ever electric Sebastian Giovinco had chances, but goalkeeper Eirik Johansen denied him both times.

At the other end, NYCFC was lucky not to lose David Villa to a red card in the first half when he kicked out at Armando Cooper.

They would clash again.

But in this testy game, TFC would eventually get the goals they fully deserved for its ambitious attacking play. The sustained pressure paid off in the 84th minute when Jozy Altidore pounced on a loose ball after Toronto was denied again and again and again. One artful attack after another had stranded, until a direct ball was finally knocked down and fell fortuitously for Altidore.

And in injury time, Tosaint Ricketts found another goal to double the score to 2-0.

Just how feisty this game had been was most evident right at the final whistle.

After a decade of futility, however, TFC deserve its commanding 2-0 lead going into the away leg on the strength of an overwhelming performance. And in New York, Vieira’s side will have to come to play.

Regular season champion FCD undone in eight minutes

When the story of Dallas’s superb 2016 is told, the first thing to come up won’t be its first-ever Supporters’ Shield or its U.S. Open Cup title. It will be its likely failure in the pursuit of a domestic treble, which fell apart in a matter of minutes early in the second half.

With manager Oscar Pareja switching his newly Mauro Diaz-less side to a 3-5-2, Dallas relied on some early saves by goalkeeper Chris Seitz to keep them in it.

Matt Hedges then cleared two balls off the line in quick succession, wedged around a ball-to-hand play on a teammate that was rightly left uncalled.

But from the 50th to the 58th minutes, Seattle surely decided the tie.

First, the once-beleaguered Nelson Valdez, who had been the hero in the Knockout Round win over Sporting Kansas City as well, scored on a diving header from a big cross by Joevin Jones, misjudged by Seitz.

Then, Jordan Morris undertook a signature blazing run upfield and finished it with a perfect square ball to Nicolas Lodeiro, who had a simple tap-in.

Finally, Lodeiro was sprung and all alone to run the length of Dallas’s half and beat Seitz.

Dallas looked disheveled for a spell but eventually regained its composure and signature ball-circulation. But it was too late. The same is probably true for its MLS Cup campaign because overcoming a 3-0 deficit is a tall order even for the regular season’s best team.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.