Only the score indicated it was a normal soccer game.

In almost every other way, Toronto FC's 1-0 win over the Montreal Impact at BMO Field on Sunday was theatre of the absurd. Not that it mattered to the 27,866 diehards, since part of the evening was the presentation of Major League Soccer's Supporters' Shield to TFC for finishing first in the regular season. The Reds put the icing on the cake by gaining three points to tie the Los Angeles Galaxy's record of 68 for most points in the regular season. A tie or better in TFC's finale next weekend in Atlanta will set a mark.

"It was probably the strangest 1-0 game I've ever been a part of because it could have very easily been 6-5," TFC head coach Greg Vanney said. "For us to get a shutout in that game is interesting, fortunate and good hard work, all things combined. It's about getting sharper over the next couple weeks."

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Here are just a few of the wild and weird things that happened over the 90-plus minutes on a windy BMO pitch:

Jozy Altidore scored the only goal of the match in the 16th minute when TFC midfielder Marco Delgado bounced a ball to him off an Impact defender.

But a lot of people, from everyone connected to the Impact to Vanney, who happened to be standing right there, thought the play should have been whistled dead seconds earlier when TFC defender Chris Mavinga committed an obvious foul.

In extra time in the first half, Reds striker Sebastian Giovinco, back in the lineup after missing four games with a quadriceps strain, was given a penalty shot. He took a stutter step, then Impact goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau took a step forward and Giovinco's shot hit the left post. Referee Ted Unkel ruled Crépeau moved forward off his line, gave him a yellow card and ordered another penalty shot. Giovinco lined up, fired and hit the same post.

In the 52nd minute, an Impact shot bounced off the inside of the right post, along the goalline, hit the other post and bounced back into the box, where it hit Impact forward Matteo Mancosu. But before he could get a foot on the ball TFC goalkeeper Alex Bono grabbed it.

The Reds can thank Bono for escaping with the win on a night when they were showing the full effects of the two-week international break. Both teams were a beat off in their timing but it was the Reds who had the benefit of their goalkeeper being the sharpest player on the field. Bono made a few great saves on regular scoring chances, too, including a breakaway by Mancosu.

"I was a little bit screened on the shot across," Bono said of the double-post play. "It was kind of wobbling all over the place and it went off the far post. I just kind of quickly turned around, it was already behind me, and went, 'Oh I hope it doesn't go in.' It hit off the other post and I go, 'Okay this is not in.' I just kind of reached for it. Mancuso was right there."

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Bono admitted it was one of the most unusual clean sheets he ever managed. "Yeah, it was a little bit strange," he said. "But you know what they say about shutouts, you take them any way you can get them and move on to the next one."

TFC was fortunate the international break ended with two games left in the regular season. Now Toronto has another game, against Atlanta United FC, to sharpen up for the playoffs. It may have come from the celebration of the Supporters' Shield the TFC players shared with the fans after the game, but Vanney sensed a notion of unfinished business from the fans over last year's MLS Cup that ended with a loss on penalty kicks to the Seattle Sounders.

"What I felt tonight was fans who feel the playoffs coming," the coach said. "You could tell there was an excitement in the air.

"People know that the playoffs are right around the corner and our opportunity to go back and get the MLS Cup that we weren't able to get a hold of last year. You can feel that excitement."

There were also a few private moments after Vanney sought out Impact veteran Patrice Bernier after the game. This is the final MLS season for the 38-year-old native of Brossard, Que., who has also been a mainstay on the Canadian men's national team.

"My hope there is just to acknowledge what a great career he's had," Vanney said. "I've admired from the opposite side a guy who's been able to endure and be great for a long time.

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"He's bled for that club and I just appreciate that as a player. I'm sure his legacy will be one a lot of Canadian fans would and should be proud of."