Brad Guzan saved a penalty kick and visiting Atlanta United converted all five of theirs to survive a scare and advance from the Eastern Conference wild-card game following a 2-2 draw with Josef Martinez and CF Montreal on Tuesday night.
The former Atlanta star Martinez scored two second-half goals – helped in part by a mistake from Guzan – to force penalties after Atlanta had opened a 2-0 first-half lead.
Martinez also converted his opening kick in the tiebreak, but Guzan dove to his left to keep out Tom Pearce's effort and nearly also kept out Gabriele Corbo's fourth kick for the hosts.
Saba Lobjanidze was the last of Atlanta's perfect penalty-takers against goalie Jonathan Sirois, dispatching his finish into the bottom corner to seal a round-one series with Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The Supporters' Shield winners host Game 1 on Friday night.
Dax McCarty, Daniel Rios, Alexey Miranchuk and Derrick Williams converted the first four penalty kicks for Atlanta. Nathan Saliba and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint joined Martinez and Corbo in succeeding against Guzan.
Brooks Lennon and Stian Gregerson each connected on first-half headers for ninth-seeded Atlanta, which snuck into the wild card on the final day of the regular season with its 2-1 win at Orlando coupled with losses by D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union.
Eighth-seeded Montreal is eliminated after winning five of its final seven down the stretch. Martinez was integral to that surge, scoring six goals in his last five regular-season games and last four starts.
He was just as vital to Montreal's second-half rally Tuesday, albeit helped by Atlanta errors.
Guzan made the first, simply dropping and spilling Pearce's outswinging cross from the left. Martinez was in the perfect spot to dispatch the rebound, which deflected off a desperate Atlanta defensive clearance attempt and across the line in the 63rd minute.
Then it was Lennon's turn to err in the 84th minute when Martinez made a clever feint that allowed a pass to arrive at Kwadwo Opoku's feet at the edge of the penalty area.
Lennon stepped on Opoku's trailing leg, and referee Joe Dickerson eventually pointed to the spot following a video review, having originally awarded the free kick outside the area.
Martinez hammered his finish past his old teammate and into the right corner.