The Colorado Rapids broke out of their scoring woes with a strong second half over the weekend.
The New England Revolution are having their own problems getting untracked offensively.
The Rapids are unbeaten in their last eight MLS matchups against the Revolution heading into Wednesday night's meeting at Gillette Stadium.
Colorado (4-4-0) managed one goal over seven halves of soccer before a four-goal outburst after halftime of Saturday's 4-0 home win over Chivas USA. Substitute Kamani Hill scored twice, and Tony Cascio and Jeff Larentowicz had the other goals.
"I don't understand what took us so long to get going," coach Oscar Pareja said. "We were close in the first half, but did do better in the second half."
Hill is tied with Omar Cummings for the team lead with three goals as he pushes for a possible place in the starting lineup. He could start one of two games this week, with the Rapids visiting FC Dallas on Sunday.
"It's definitely something that we can build on, especially going into a tough week like we are with two away games," Hill said.
New England (2-5-0) has five goals in seven games to tie Philadelphia for the league's second-worst ratio ahead of only Chivas' four goals from eight matches.
The Revolution lost their third straight Saturday, 1-0 at New York. They allowed Thierry Henry to score in the seventh minute and failed to muster much of a threat the rest of the way.
"It's good to get back at it because when you lose the way we did, give away something early and then try to claw your way back in it, we never really did, so you want to get back after it," coach Jay Heaps said.
New England has split its two home games - fewest in MLS besides Houston, which is opening a new stadium with its first home game May 12. The Revolution face a difficult week with a quick turnaround for Saturday's trip to Real Salt Lake.
"You want to be careful, you don't want to extend certain guys too many minutes," Heaps said.
Colorado has three wins and five draws in this series since its last loss, 1-0 on the road Sept. 29, 2007. Both matchups last season ended in draws.
Larentowicz has played every minute of all four meetings since he was traded from New England to Colorado in 2010. Heaps referred to the midfielder as the "heart and soul" of the Rapids.
How the matchup unfolds in the midfield between Larentowicz and Revolution captain Shalrie Joseph could go a long way toward determining Wednesday's result.
"I'm looking forward to going up against him, he's done well for himself since he moved to Colorado and I expect nothing but excellence from him," Joseph said. "That's the kind of person he is and Wednesday's going to be no different, it's going to be me and him in the middle but it's going to be a team battle."
The Rapids have been outscored 7-1 over three straight road defeats.
