TORONTO - As Toronto FC prepares for a challenging four-game road trip, manager Ryan Nelsen and his braintrust face some troubling questions. Make no mistake, the big picture remains positive. Toronto (7-6-5) is headed for its best ever season and first trip to the playoffs. The roster and team culture have been smartly remade. But injuries and suspensions have made it difficult to find the right mix of pieces to complete the puzzle. And mentally, Toronto has yet to show that it can kill off a game on a regular basis when it has its foot on the other teams neck. The officiating stole many of the headlines in Saturdays 2-1 loss to Sporting Kansas City, but the inability to finish and some sloppy defending cost Toronto more than the decision-making of referee Ted Unkel. "Two very soft goals and we havent got our balance right yet in that midfield," said Nelsen. "Maybe (we were) missing a couple of key players, but our balance wasnt right on the two goals. We were spectators. In a time when we had to be urgent and our intensity had to be focused, we just hoped somebody would do their job and that was unfortunate." Sadly soft goals have been a common theme of late, with the backline losing its shape and getting punished. Toronto was missing star striker Jermain Defoe (suspension), captain/centre back Steven Caldwell and right back Mark Bloom (knee) against the MLS champions. Defoe will be back when Toronto kicks off its road trip against D.C. United (10-5-4) but Toronto will be without centre back Doneil Henry on Wednesday due to accumulation of yellow cards. Toronto then plays at Montreal, Columbus and Kansas City. Torontos defenders were all over the place on Kansas Citys goals (in the 48th minute by Graham Zusi and 80th by former TFC midfielder Jacob Peterson). Brazilian winger Jackson had opened the scoring for Toronto in the 16th minute. Kansas City players flooded into the penalty box on the first goal by the visitors, with the ball eventually ricocheting back to Zusi who curled it into the top of the goal with Joe Bendik stranded out of position. On the second, Toronto was unable to defend a deflected cross and Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer flicked the ball back to Peterson, who beat Bendik from close range. Nelsen complained some of his players had settled for spots that would have worked out well had their teammates won the ball back. But they did not. "They were some guys that were spectating and getting into nice comfortable position but werent influencing the game, they werent helping out their teammates," he said. "Thats a hardness that we lost, I think," he added, "(and) that we need to get back." Nelsen played a midfield of Jackson, Michael Bradley, Collen Warner and Dominic Oduro against Kansas City, Oduro terrorized the KC defence and Jackson, making a terrific run to take advantage of a marvellous Oduro pass that split the defence, scored one goal and could have had three on the night. But the Brazilian winger was one player who seemed to be lying in wait for a possible counter-attack on one of the Kansas City goals. And Oduros mind set is offence not defence. On a micro level, Nelsens frustration Saturday was that his team got it right for most of the game other than two lapses of concentration. On a larger level, he sees a good team unable yet to take the final step to becoming a very good one. "But this is why its such a great game," he said. "Nothing is given to you here, is it. Youve got to keep working, take little steps, little steps, little steps and eventually these results will go your way and youll learn from your mistakes. "Weve got some young guys, we had a couple of young players out in the backline. Weve still got some new players coming into the team. I feel bad for the guys, because we are very close." Nelsen saw plenty of positives, which perhaps made the loss more upsetting. "Our transition was just brilliant today. We absolutely destroyed them today on it." The pace of Oduro and Jackson, coupled with fine passing from Bradley and others did rip Kansas City apart repeatedly. "The bottom line is that on too many days were the team not coming away with points," said Bradley. "Over the course of a season, these games add up and mean that youre not in the position we should be. So weve to take a long hard look at ourselves at the moment and really find a way to translate at times good play and dominating games and turn that into points and wins." The league will no doubt review Saturdays officiating and the comments that followed. "Its by no means an excuse, it was the same for both teams, but the referee was absolutely awful," Bradley said after carefully choosing his words. "The people at the MLS (head) office in New York, when they talk about wanting to improve the league, the first thing that needs to be improved is the refereeing, bottom line. "That shouldnt come across as sour grapes because thats just the reality. And it was bad for both teams and Im sure theyre sitting in their locker-room saying the same thing to themselves but theyve got three points with them and that certainly makes it a little easier to swallow." Unkel issued eight yellow cards, including five to Toronto. Kansas City was reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute when captain/defender Matt Besler got a second yellow. Foremost on Torontos list of complaints was a no-call in the 23rd minute when Unkel waved play on after Kansas City defender Aurelien Collin, chasing Brazilian striker Gilberto after a deft through ball from Bradley, appeared to clip the Brazilians leg. Gilberto, who had a clear path on goal, went down and Bradley went after the referee imploring for a call, which should have garnered Collin a red card. The French defender went unpunished and Toronto got the first four yellows of the night. "Collin should have been sent off. I mean an under-12 ref can pick that one," Nelsen said with disgust. "Thats pretty basic." Kansas City coach Peter Vermes had a different view of the officiating. "I thought the referee did a good job tonight, that is my personal opinion," he said. "I dont think it was an easy game to ref. "I really liked his management of the game, the things that you can control the ball going out of bounds and the guy trying to steal 15 yards. Those are the things that drive us nuts as coaches, the little calls you might miss or might get, but those things he did a good job of and kept the game going on both sides. Toronto hit the woodwork twice in the first half. Randy Johnson Jersey . Meeks has agreed to a $19.5 million, three-year deal with Detroit, a person familiar with the situation said Tuesday night. The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because free agents cant sign contracts until the leagues moratorium ends July 10, also said Cartier Martin had agreed to a one-year contract with the rebuilding franchise. Ketel Marte Jersey . -- Terrelle Pryor took the opening snap of the game, put the ball in Darren McFaddens belly and saw LaMarr Woodley crash down. http://www.diamondbacksteamshop.com/Diam...ke-Kids-Jersey/. 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Oilers centre Sam Gagner suffered a broken jaw after getting hit with a high stick from Kassian in Edmontons 5-2 win.OTTAWA - Mike Hoffman just wants to be a regular player in the NHL and his performance Saturday night might bring the dream that much closer.Hoffman, who had been a healthy scratch the past two games, made up for missing a penalty shot by scoring the game winner as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2.After sitting out the last two games I wanted to come in here and do everything I could to try and help this team win and help my linemates as well, said Hoffman. For my confidence going forward it helps a lot to get the first one out of the way this year so Im looking forward to the next game.Hoffman, who has played 32 career games in the NHL, is hopeful this is the year he can make a good enough impression to play on a regular basis.For me now, Im not thinking too much, said the 24-year-old. Im just going out there and reacting and playing my game and when I get opportunities to use my speed Im going to try and take advantage of that.David Legwand and Erik Karlsson also scored for Ottawa (4-1-0), which has now won four straight, as Robin Lehner faced 40 shots.Nick Foligno and David Savard scored for the Blue Jackets (3-2-0).Curtis McElhinney allowed two goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky, who gave up one goal on 18 shots.With the score tied 2-2 Hoffman used his speed to get to the net and beat Bobrovsky on the backhand midway through the third.I think he showed great skill level with the puck (Saturday), said Senators head coach Paul Maclean. The goal he scored is a pretty good goal in any league. Hoff came in and hes been a patient guy and hes been working hard and had a good training camp and certainly gave himself a good account (Saturday).The Senators nearly let this one slip away as Columbus scored two goals 41 seconds apart in the second to tie the game 2-2, quieting the crowd of 18,994 at Canadian Tire Centre.Unlike last season, however, the Senators are showing resiliency when they fall behind or get into trouble.For the most part we played good and then we had a minor meltdown in the second where they scored twice, but overall we held it together, said Karlsson. Other than that I think we deserved this win. We played good, they played good as well and their goalies made some big saves for them, but we did what we could with what we had and we created our own scoring chances.Ottawa had made it 2-0 at the seven-minute mark on Karlssons goal that was reviewed after McElhinney was knocked over by Nick Foligno as he made the save and sllid into the back of the net.dddddddddddd The goal stood, but it was the end of the night for McElhinney, who was injured on the play.Foligno hadnt had a chance to talk to McElhinney following the game, but said he felt terrible as he ran into him pretty hard and is hopeful he wont be sidelined for long.Foligno, who scored his first NHL goal on this night seven years ago, was credited with the first goal for Columbus, but in reality it went in off Curtis Lazars skate. Seconds later Savard tied the game with a shot from the point that got through traffic, prompting Senators coach Paul MacLean to call a timeout.The Blue Jackets did their best to tie the game, but just couldnt get anything past Lehner.Youve got to tip your hat to a hot goaltender, said Foligno. We need to take out that we played a real solid game and battled back and never quit.Both teams had a solid first period, but in the end the Senators led 1-0 on Legwands goal as he beat McElhinney through the legs.The Blue Jackets had two great chances, but were robbed by Lehner on both. Lehner managed to get his stick down on the goal line on what looked like a sure goal by Alexander Wennberg and later in the period Lehner stopped Cam Atkinson.Lehner is expected to share the workload this season with Craig Anderson and so far he has been outstanding. This was his second 38-save performance of the season.He was an NHL goalie, said MacLean. He made some real solid saves, he was composed in the net and I thought he gave our team a lot of confidence.While they refused to use it as an excuse, the Blue Jackets had played the night before and admitted they might not have been at their best.We could have probably had a better start, said Foligno. We were a little sloppy, but still did a lot of good things and played a pretty good road game. We maybe could have cleaned up our end a little bit better.Hoffman was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down by James Wisniewski, but was unable to score as he lost the puck.This was the first of four road games for the Blue Jackets as they head west to continue in San Jose on Thursday.Notes - The Senators will be without D Marc Methot (back, indefinite). D Jared Cowen, RW Erik Condra and LW Colin Greening were healthy scratches for Ottawa. Columbus was without C Marko Dano (undisclosed), C Brandon Dubinsky (Lower body), LW Sonny Milano (face), RW Nathan Horton (back), C Boone Jenner (hand) and D Ryan Murray (knee). D Cody Goloubef and RW Adam Cracknell were a healthy scratch. 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