The Montreal Impact gained an important three points and perhaps some Canadian bragging rights with their 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.

The win on a 68th minute goal from Sanna Nyassi was their seventh this season, one more than Toronto FC had as an expansion team in 2007 and the Vancouver Whitecaps got in their first Major League Soccer campaign in 2011.

But it's not an achievement to crow about for the Impact (7-12-3), who are convinced their record would be even better had they not let points slip away with sloppy defense this season.

''We don't use the E-word,'' coach Jesse Marsch said of his expansion squad. ''I think there's disappointment overall at the results because, within the group, there's a feeling that we're a good team.''

Patrice Bernier opened the scoring on a 28th minute penalty kick for Montreal (7-12-3) and Lee Nguyen equalized for New England one minute before the intermission to quiet the crowd of 15,615 at Saputo Stadium.

''Surprisingly, even though it was the last minute before half time, no one was feeling sorry for themselves or saying `here we go again,' '' said captain Davy Arnaud. ''We were confident in what we were going to do in the second half.

''We got the goal and held onto it.''

The Impact leapfrogged New England (6-9-4) into sixth place in the standings, although the Revolution hold three games in hand. Montreal can gain more ground Saturday when they travel to fifth-place Houston.

''We obviously are an expansion team, but from Day One we've said we don't want that to be what we're about or to use that as any kind of excuse,'' said Arnaud, who lauded his club's defensive effort. ''We expect more from ourselves.''

New England, coming off a 1-0 loss to Toronto FC, has never won a game in Canada, going 0-1 in Vancouver and 0-2-4 in Toronto.

''It's not a mental block, it's how the cards play out sometimes,'' said New England defender Darius Barnes. ''We get to come back here later in the season and it's not something we think about.''