But the Revolution (6-12-5, 23 points) had plenty of chances to break out of their slump, hitting the crossbar and post in the opening half, and appearing to have earned a penalty kick in the second half.

Chris Tierney hit the post in the 37th minute and Revolution leading scorer Saer Sene headed off the bar from a Tierney cross four minutes later. Montreal (10-13-3, 33 points) then produced the deciding play as Sanna Nyassi capitalized on a turnover to score in the 61st minute.

Nyassi ran through the middle of the field, slipping past Revolution defender A.J. Soares and finishing into the upper right side of the net from just outside the penalty arc.

“It was a turnover in the middle of the field and Sanna picked the ball up and once he gets going he’s pretty quick,” Soares said. “And he just put a great move — I closed him down, I was showing him to the outside to his left foot and he did this real quick little touch, touched it through my legs and then he just blasted it upper ‘V.’ It was a pretty great goal.

“There were obviously a few things that could have been done better, but at that speed, especially at Sanna’s speed, sometimes you just look back and say that was a great goal. Obviously, we could have prevented it in a few different ways, keeping the ball and getting a body on Sanna.”

The Revolution had hoped for an offensive spark from Jerry Bengtson, who was returning from a three-goal performance for Honduras in the Olympic Games. But Bengtson produced only one shot, a far off-target drive, and was replaced by Fernando Cardenas in the 63d minute.

“He was just a just little tired,” Revolution coach Jay Heaps said of Bengtson. “He has been in Honduras the last four or five days, training with us for two days. Also, just trying change up a little bit — we needed fresh legs.”

Diego Fagundez and Kelyn Rowe entered in the second half, but the Revolution scoreless streak reached 258 consecutive minutes in a three-game span. The Revolution have been outscored, 7-2, in the last six matches (0-5-1).

“We’re playing some good soccer,” Soares said. “We’re getting behind defenses and shooting the ball well and hitting the goal — like we did today. But it’s just not going our way. We have to just keep our heads up and be positive and I know the goals will come. We have great players up the field and I’ve just got to try do my job in the back and allow guys up front do their job and we’ll turn it around.”

Montreal set the tone early, and Patrice Bernier was cautioned for a hard foul on Benny Feilhaber in the seventh minute. Referee Allen Chapman allowed the Revolution to play on, Sene firing just wide with a shot, then issued a yellow card. Chapman gave a verbal warning toBernier early in the second half after another challenge on Feilhaber, who was replaced by Rowe in the 66th minute.

The Revolution upped their attacking intensity in the late-going and appeared to have earned a penalty kick as Dennis Iapichino blocked a Ryan Guy cross with his hand, Chapman allowing play to continue.

“It’s a call this way, a call that way, and, unfortunately, we’re not getting those calls,” Guy said. “We’re playing OK — not up to our potential — but it’s the roll of the ball sometimes, off the crossbar, a red card here. Little things affect us as players and, as much as I think we should have put the game away, I think we do need something extra, a little spark to push us over the edge.