The Houston Dynamo snapped a lengthy winless stretch with a much-needed victory over the weekend.
The Columbus Crew are hoping to end their drought Wednesday night.
Houston tries to make it two in a row when it hosts Columbus, which could have difficulty getting back on track without Wil Trapp.
The Dynamo were outscored 13-3 during an 0-4-2 slide before breaking out in a 4-1 win at Chivas USA on Saturday. Houston (3-4-2) fell behind in the seventh minute before scoring four unanswered goals, including two from forward Giles Barnes.
"I think the best thing was that we went down a goal, and it's not a great thing to go down a goal early, but I thought our response was fantastic," coach Dominic Kinnear told MLS' official website. "Scored three great goals before the break and took our time and pick and chose our moments to go forward."
Will Bruin added his team-leading fifth goal and Brad Davis also scored for the Dynamo, who matched their total number of goals from the previous seven matches.
"We've been creating some chances but they haven't really been going in the past few weeks," Davis said. "Tonight we created a bunch and scored four goals so it feels good."
The Crew won their first three games to post the best start in team history, but they've been limited to three goals during an 0-2-3 stretch after falling 2-0 at Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.
"We know we can play; we're a good team," forward Dominic Oduro told the Crew's official website. "They're also a good team. But I think today they just outworked us a little bit. We've just got to go back and figure things out."
The Crew (3-2-3) will be forced to try to regroup without Trapp, who won't be available after being shown a second yellow card over the weekend. According to the team's website, Trapp's 518 successful passes are one behind Philadelphia's Vincent Nogueira for the most in MLS, and his 703 touches rank fifth.
"I don't think there's a like-for-like replacement in the whole league for Wil Trapp," coach Gregg Berhalter said. "For his age, I think he's one of the better midfielders in the league. ... We're going to look in our depth and we'll find someone who can perform."
The Crew went 1-1-1 against the Dynamo last season, falling 3-1 in their lone visit to Houston. Columbus is 5-3-9 in the all-time series.
Houston is 2-1-1 at home, with the loss coming 4-1 to FC Dallas on April 5. The Dynamo have allowed one goal in those other three matches.
