Brian White scored in the 88th minute as the Vancouver Whitecaps finished with a flourish while earning a 1-1 draw against the visiting Portland Timbers on Wednesday night.
Kamal Miller scored in the first half for Portland, which controlled most of the match before Vancouver awoke in the final minutes.
The Whitecaps (16-6-8, 56 points) stand one point behind first-place San Diego FC in the Western Conference.
The Timbers (11-10-10, 43 points) are one point behind sixth-place Austin FC in the West. Portland is 1-3-3 over its past seven MLS matches.
Yohei Takaoka had six saves for the Whitecaps, while James Pantemis made two stops for the Timbers.
The Whitecaps put relentless pressure on in the final minutes. In the 87th minute, Sebastian Berhalter was open, but his right-footed blast was tipped away by Pantemis.
On the ensuing corner kick by Berhalter, Matthias Laborda got his head on the ball, and the slight deflection helped White get his leg on the ball and knock it past Pantemis.
The flurry continued during second-half stoppage time.
In the second minute, White was near the net but knocked a right-footer attempt just wide to the left. One minute later, Emmanuel Sabbi saw an open net, and his blistering right-footed blast hit where the crossbar and goalpost meet.
Miller scored in the 39th minute when he sent a left-footed boot from just outside the box into the right portion of the net. Vancouver failed to clear the ball and Miller surprised Takaoka with the long shot.
Portland finished with a 17-14 edge in shots and had a 7-3 advantage in shots placed on target.
The Timbers dominated the first half and outshot the Whitecaps 14-2, as Portland put seven shots on target.
Portland’s Kristoffer Velde hit the left goalpost in the 11th minute and had two more shots in the ensuing five minutes stopped by Takaoka.
Laborda sent a header wide right of the net in the 53rd minute.
Pantemis stopped a right-footed shot from Daniel Rios in the 84th minute.
–Field Level Media
