It took Gyasi Zardes just two games of action to surpass his 2017 MLS goal total.
The United States international picked up a brace in the Columbus Crew’s 3-2 win over the Montreal Impact, scoring the Crew’s second and third goals of the contest.
The third goal was from the spot in the fourth minute of stoppage time, helping the Crew to three points in a game in which they had surrendered a two-goal advantage.
Zardes scored 16 goals in 2014 for the LA Galaxy, but had scored 14 in the three seasons since, having bounced around at striker, on the wing and even played fullback at times.
An offseason trade offered Zardes a fresh chance as a striker in Columbus, and he has hit the ground running in his new home with three goals in the first two games of the season.
Federico Higuain scored the opener in the 12th minute for the Crew, converting a penalty to make it 1-0.
Zardes doubled the advantage just three minutes later, as he pounced on a rebound off the crossbar to tap in the Crew’s second of the day and match his 2017 goal output.
The 26-year-old nearly netted another in the first half as he was inches away from a sliding finish of a low cross that instead slipped just past him.
It appeared that chance would loom large as Ignacio Piatti brought the Impact back into the game with a second-half goal before substitute Raheem Edwards hit a magnificent volley off a cross to level the scoreline at two.
But Edwards would turn hero to goat in stoppage time as he was whistled for a foul in the area, stumbling into the back of Luis Argudo for the penalty.
Zardes stepped up instead of Higuain and though Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush guessed right, the striker powered it home into the roof of the net.
Not only has Zardes topped his goal output from last season, he’s halfway to matching his totals from each of the prior two seasons, having scored six goals in each campaign.
Zardes and the Crew are next in action on March 17 on the road against the Philadelphia Union.
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