Whitecaps fail to clinch playoff spot with regular-season finale loss to Minnesota United | CBC Sports

Franco Fragapane scored early in the first half, Jonathan Gonzalez added an insurance goal in the second and Minnesota United defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 on Sunday to clinch a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Minnesota United entered play with just one point in its last six matches (0-5-1) before beating Vancouver for a second time this season. It marked the first time one team beat the other twice in the same season.

Emanuel Reynoso notched his 11th assist to go with 10 goals. He is one of three players to reach double figures in both categories this season — joining Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar and Carlos Vela of LAFC.

WATCH | Whitecaps unable to secure playoff spot, suffer shutout loss to Minnesota United:

Whitecaps unable to secure post-season spot with shutout loss to Minnesota

Vancouver falls 2-0 and fails to clinch a playoff spot. Minnesota United locks in their position in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Dayne St. Clair of Pickering, Ont., stopped six shots to earn a clean sheet for Minnesota United. Thomas Hasal had three saves for the Whitecaps.

Vancouver closed out its season with three straight home wins, but the Whitecaps were 0-5-3 in their final eight road matches.

WATCH | Canada’s Dayne St. Clair helps Minnesota United secure MLS playoff berth:

Canadian goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair’s amazing save helps Minnesota secure playoff berth

Dayne St. Clair of Pickering, Ont., makes an incredible save in Minnesota United’s 2-0 shutout victory over Vancouver Whitecaps.

CF Montreal beat Miami, fall short of top spot in East

Djordje Mihailovic and Lassi Lappalainen scored goals in the first eight minutes and CF Montreal breezed to a 3-1 victory over Inter Miami in a regular-season finale on Sunday.

Montreal needed a win and a loss by the Philadelphia Union to claim the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Union beat Toronto 4-0.

Mihailovic scored in the fifth minute for Montreal (21-9-5) and Lappalainen added his goal three minutes later with an assist from Mihailovic. Kei Kamara made it 3-0 at halftime with a goal in the 36th minute.

Mihailovic and Kamara finished with nine goals apiece for Montreal, second only to Romell Quioto’s team-high 15. Lappalainen’s goal was his third.

Montreal won six more matches this season than in any other, scoring 65 points to top its previous high by 14. Montreal finished with 15 one-goal victories, second most to New England’s record of 18 set last season.

WATCH | CF Montreal defeats Inter Miami in final game of regular season:

CF Montreal heads to playoffs with convincing win over Miami

CF Montreal defeats Inter Miami 3-1 in the final game of the regular season and finishes second in the Eastern Conference.

The club scored 63 (at half) goals this campaign, topping its previous record by 11.

Inter Miami’s score came on an own-goal by Montreal’s Joel Waterman in the 85th minute.

Gonzalo Higuain saw his five-match goal streak end for Inter Miami (14-15-6).

Gazdag’s hat trick lifts Union past Toronto FC

Daniel Gazdag scored three goals and the Union wrapped up the top seed in the Eastern Conference, defeating FC Toronto 4-0 on Sunday.

Gazdag left little doubt, scoring in the 4th minute and assisting on Mikael Uhre’s goal in the 42nd minute as Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead at intermission.

In the second half, Gazdag scored on a penalty kick at 60 minutes and finished off the hat trick three minutes later.

Toronto did not have a shot on goal.

The Union improved to 19-5-10 and Toronto dropped to 9-18-7.

WATCH | Toronto FC ends season with 293-minute scoring drought in defeat to Union: 

Toronto FC suffers 5th consecutive loss in final game of season

Philadelphia defeats Toronto 4-0 and secures first place in the Eastern Conference. TFC ends the season with a 293-minute scoring drought, including third straight shutout losses.