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Real Salt Lake picked a great time to find its scoring stride after four scoreless matches.
The visiting team put up three goals in the Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry on Saturday against the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver.
"Sometimes you get caught up in the rivalry, but I think for our group, the most important thing was the 3 points and scoring goals," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "And we did both of those things today, so I think it was a step in the right direction."
The starting lineup had eight changes from the last game at home against Portland as RSL continues to balance both MLS play and the U.S. Open Cup tournament, which runs concurrently with the regular season.
Star playmaker Jefferson Savarino and Maikel Chang stayed in Utah for this trip, allowing veteran Damir Kreilach and rookie Bertin Jacquesson to enter the starting lineup.
The match had intensity from the start, as rivalry meetings are want to go, and Pablo Ruiz capitalized on some early aggression from the road side to send a ground shot from distance into the bottom-right corner to get his second goal of the season and put RSL up 1-0 in the 12th minute.
Mastroeni said after the last scoreless match that goals tend to "come in bunches," and it proved true when a Colorado goalkeeper deflection fell to Danny Musovski's feet right in front of the goal, and the Las Vegas native slotted it home for his first MLS goal in an RSL uniform.
Colorado got its first of two goals — both on defensive assignment errors from RSL — in the 33rd minute when Danny Wilson was left unmarked in the box on a free kick and headed home the first Rapids opener.
The eventual game-winner came in the 44th minute when a series of selfless passes from Jacquesson and Rubio Rubin got Kreilach an open shot in the box, and the captain didn't hesitate as he curled one into the far post for his second goal of the season.
Did someone say Damir Magic?
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) May 21, 2023
The Kreilach Kid puts #RSL up 3-1 on an assist from Rubio Rubin (hockey assist to Jacquesson) in the 44th minute. pic.twitter.com/LXLThGDSQA
Lalas Abubakar pulled one back for Colorado on another unmarked header in the 74th minute, but RSL was able to hang on for the final 30 minutes into stoppage time to get a rare 3 points on the road.
"It probably wasn't our best game that we've played — not the most joyful to watch — but definitely one with a lot of heart in it," Jasper Loffelsend said. "I feel like that's just what you're gonna get out of a derby (rivalry). Super excited to get that win after those 90-plus minutes."
The win marked RSL's 13th victory in the last 20 regular season editions of the Rocky Mountain Cup. It was also the first time RSL has scored three goals in the first half of a match since October 2018.
RSL returns to Denver on Wednesday to take on the Rapids in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 before traveling to Minnesota United on May 27 in MLS play.
When asked if he was tempted to simply "run it back" with the same players in the Open Cup meeting, Mastroeni mentioned the players he left at home and said he'll have to "take a step back and look at the whole group and see where everyone's at and how everyone recovers from this game."
