The first MLS playoff game in Canada was a mismatch from the opening whistle as the Montreal Impact rolled to an easy 3-0 win over Toronto FC.

The Eastern Conference semifinals are now set: Montreal and the second-seeded Columbus Crew will square off, while the New York Red Bulls will take on archrival D.C. United.

Before looking ahead, however, here are my thoughts on Thursday night's game:

Toronto’s defense lived down to its expectation

Toronto FC came in having conceded 58 goals in the regular season, worst among all 12 playoff teams. Everyone knew that if Toronto was to have any success, its defense would have to hang together and rise to the occasion.

The plan was a decisive failure. Montreal smelled blood, went right at Toronto from the first kick of the game, and never looked back. Patrice Bernier made the opening goal look easy in the 18th minute, and Toronto’s Josh Williams then fell down on Ignacio Piatti’s second in the 33rd minute. Didier Drogba slammed home the third just a few minutes later.

It took Toronto FC nine seasons to make the MLS playoffs, but the team’s postseason debut turned out to be an anticlimactic dud. Ownership spent a ton of money on Sebastian Giovinco, Michael Bradley, and Jozy Altidore, and while that sizable offensive investment was enough to drag the club into the postseason, it was not nearly enough.

Toronto needs a lot of work, making this a crucial offseason. The 2015 draft was poor, as first-round choice Skylar Thomas never even featured for the first team. If Toronto can’t add multiple defenders, and fast, next season won’t be any better—no matter how well Giovinco plays.

Montreal is very much a contender

As bad as Toronto was in the game, Montreal truly impressed. In fact, the Impact is playing at a level where it should not surprise anyone if its players wind up lifting MLS Cup in December. This team can score, it can defend and it can control possession.

It just goes to show how quickly things can change in this league: Last season, after all, Montreal was MLS’s worst. Drogba is the best midseason acquisition in league history by far, Laurent Ciman is an elite defender and Piatti is a quality playmaker. The rest play very well to their roles.

If anything, that speed of growth in Montreal should be a source of hope for Toronto. But in Columbus, fans should feel something else: fear.

Altidore came up empty

In a must-win game, Jozy Altidore failed to deliver. Yes, Toronto still was not realistically going to win this game without a vastly improved defensive effort, but the U.S. national team striker certainly didn’t help, failing to register a single shot in a largely invisible performance.

Many good strikers are streaky, of course, but when Altidore is off his game, he completely disappears. What is most frustrating is that, as of late, the bigger the games are, the harder he is to find. That goes for club and international level alike.

Now, with World Cup qualifying is just around the corner, U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann must be shaking his head both with Altidore’s performances as well as the recent injury to Aron Johannsson. The forward position is slim pickings for the national team these days, but with Altidore seemingly healthy, it’s hard to understand quite why.

He’s in his prime and in a league where he should dominate. Instead he and Toronto are heading home.