FRISCO, Texas - The Vancouver Whitecaps might have watched their playoff chances melt away in the heat of a stifling Texas night. Andreas Christensen Jersey . In a matchup of teams battling head-to-head for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccers Western Conference, the Whitecaps run to the post-season took a hard hit when FC Dallas blew open a tie game with two goals in the final minutes for a 3-1 victory Saturday night. The win pushed Dallas (10-7-10) into playoff position, pending the result of late matches involving Colorado and Portland. The Whitecaps, meanwhile, dropped to 10-10-7 and stand seventh in the West with seven games to go. The top five teams earn playoff berths. Vancouvers next two matches, against San Jose and Montreal, are both on the road, where the Whitecaps are 2-8-3 this season. "We need to win on the road," goalkeeper Davis Ousted said. "We have two more away games now and we need to get at least one win. It was tough tonight. I think we deserved more than we got … we played a good game but we got punished by some incredible goals." All three of Dallas strikes were of the highlight-reel variety, and none was prettier than the winner. With the clock winding down and both teams desperate to pick up three points, Dallas took control with counterattack. Eric Hassli picked up a free ball at the top of the box and fed speedy forward Fabian Castillo, who beat Vancouvers Nigel Reo-Coker to the end line on the left. Castillos cross found streaking midfielder Mauro Diaz, who caught it right in stride and blasted a brilliant right-footed volley for a 2-1 lead in the 87th minute. "It was counter-attacking football at its best," Reo-Coker said. "It was top quality. They scored three fantastic goals and sometimes theres nothing you can do about that." Dallas put the game away in the 89th minute, when defender Jair Benitez, with space in the midfield area, took two steps across the centre stripe, saw Ousted positioned far out of his goal and let fly from 50 yards with his left foot. Ousted raced back and leaped to stop the ball, but it soared over his outstretched hand and into the top right corner of the net. "Its a great goal from his side but obviously Im not happy with my role in it," Ousted said. "I need to be quicker back and defending my goal. I was looking to stay high and maybe get the pass in deep, but he just hit it amazingly." Added Whitecaps coach Martin Rennie: "(Benitez) could try that 100 times and its not going to go in again." The rough finish offset an uncharacteristic flying start for the Whitecaps, who had given up goals in the first three minutes in each of their previous two games. In the fourth minute, Camilo Sanvezzo started an exquisite sequence of passes by deftly dropping the ball to Kenny Miller in the right corner. Miller followed with a perfect cross that hit charging midfielder Daigo Kobayashi right in stride for a tap-in goal and a 1-0 lead. But it didnt last long. Just four minutes later, FC Dallas midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson tied it up after taking a seemingly innocuous pass on the left wing from Fabian Castillo. Given time and space by the soft Vancouver defence, Watson launched a 25-yard rocket that slipped just under the crossbar and past Ousteds fingertips. While Dallas dominated possession from that point and had several near misses, Vancouvers defence held firm despite the recorded 38-degree C heat at FC Dallas Stadium — until the final minutes. "Youre climatizing to different climates, different temperatures," Reo-Coker said. "Were not used to this heat and humidity. So we had to come up with a game plan. We had to be compact, tight, difficult to beat and play on the counterattack. "We did that, but they were the better team. They scored three fantastic goals and deserved to win." The result is an uphill fight for the Whitecaps as they try to remain in playoff contention. "Weve got a climb to get up there but I still feel like well get there," Rennie said. "Weve been here before. It was a tough struggle to get there last year and it will be this year. Its very close … I dont think it hurts our confidence. I just think its something we have to get over quickly." Reo-Coker said the Whitecaps mind-set is to do exactly that. "The saying goes, if youre going through a hole, just keep on going," he said. "Its as simple as that. At the moment were going through a little bit of a difficult patch. "Eventually well come out of this." Jorginho Jersey . Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. Gary Cahill Jersey . Alfredo Simon lowered his ERA to 0.86, and the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Friday for their 16th win in their last 17 games at the Friendly Confines. http://www.chelseafcproshop.com/Kids-Willian-Jersey/ . -- Michigan coach John Beilein is willing to give Nik Stauskas a little leeway when it comes to shot selection.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Kerry, I would like your opinion on the Joe Pavelski shootout goal. It appears that Pavelski comes to a stop, waits and then shoots. Should this goal have counted in the shootout? Unapologetic Ducks fan. Kerry, On Saturday night during the shootout, San Joses Joe Pavelski appeared to come to a complete stop while moving towards Jonas Hiller. Immediately after stopping he shot the puck and scored the only goal (for either team) during the shootout. I thought that the rules were that both the puck and the shooter had to keep up uninterrupted forward momentum for the goal to count? A little clarification would be great because Id hate to think that yet another game this season was decided by a refs blown call, there have been FAR too many of those already. Love the column, thanks for helping further everyones education and knowledge about the game that we all love. Greg Lykes Greg and our Unapologetic Ducks fan, Welcome to another shootout "razzle-dazzle" which should be redefined in the rule book as an NHL skills competition where anything goes. Its about time to change the wording in rule 24 to include, "any move that resembles a skilled hockey play." The lacrosse-like whip and spin-o-rama are approved for use as skilled moves and both involve continuous motion. It might be argued that Joe Pavelski maintained a semblance of forward motion when he slammed on the brakes resulting in a forward slide and then immediately turned his blades from that sliding stop to a continuation of his glide momentum towards Jonas Hiller. There was also an ever so slight forward rotation of the puck only detected by video replay as Pavelski exeecuted a stickhandle move in conjunction with his sliding stop. Danny Drinkwater Jersey. Pavelskis stick motion, from back to front, throughout this stickhandle maneuver is deemed legal puck possession as he teed the puck up for a shot. All this allows the execution of Pavelskis shootout move to be deemed "legal" by a technicality. Rule 24.2 presently reads, "However, should the puck come to a complete stop at any time during the shot attempt, the shot shall be stopped and no goal will be the result." To the naked eye in real-time, it appears that both the puck and Pavelski came to a complete stop. Slow-motion video review can provide a different picture; especially if the viewer desires all of these "hockey plays" to be deemed legal. My take is that an attacker is given a distinct and unfair advantage over the goalkeeper on most of these "stop and go" type maneuvers. While it might be entertaining for fans during an All-Star Game Skills Competition where there is little on the line except bragging rights, a regular season shootout is worth a point in the standings. Shootout wins can make a huge difference in the final standings for playoffs. The integrity of the final standings is being compromised by circumventing the spirit of Rule 24 through unfair advantages shooters are being given over the goalkeepers. Short of a rule change, the referees should be empowered to kill the play whenever they determine (with their naked eye) that the puck has not been kept in motion towards the goal as the current rule states. It would take a large measure of courage on the part of the refs to make that call, in addition to support offered from a Hockey Operations Dept. that has set the existing standard. Dont expect a change anytime soon unless the goalkeeper fraternity revolts en masse. 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