3 POINTS: A history of Sean Johnson's penalty kick saves

The Milkman Always Delivers

Sean Johnson’s huge 86^th minute penalty stop on Chris Tierney in Saturday’s 1-0 victory at New England was the sixth of his MLS career. Whatever his strategy, it seems to be working…

“It was just instinct,” Johnson said post-game. “I think when it comes down to those moments, you kind of have to live in the moment. You don’t really think about it too much. You just kind of react and I just got a good jump on that side and was able to save it.

• WATCH: Sean Johnson's 86th minute penalty save

“I mix it up in the moment. I’ve gone left, I’ve gone right. I mix it up quite a bit so you never know.”

Johnson’s six career penalty saves are the most in MLS since he entered the league in 2010. The fifth-year Fire ‘keeper sits just in front of U.S. World Cup goalkeeper Nick Rimando with five in that time.

The list of Sean John's penalty denials:

#QuincyTime Continues to Roll

Fire Forward Quincy Amarikwa continues his career season, bagging his sixth MLS goal of the year in the third minute. Amarikwa’s has already doubled his previous career high in MLS goals, with the three that he scored in 299 minutes off the bench for the club last season.

Across all competitions, the veteran MLS forward has tallied eight goals and four assists this season, tying him with rookie Harry Shipp (six goals, six assists) for the most score sheet appearances (goals & assists) in 2014.  

• WATCH: Amarikwa bags 8th goal across all competitions

In part, Amarikwa credits his rise on the scoring sheet to a bond forming with 2013 MLS MVP Mike Magee.

“ [My partnership with Mike Magee] is good. It’s developing,” he said post-game. “We’re always looking for each other. We’re usually involved in each other’s goals in some capacity and hopefully it translates into more goals and more assists and more chemistry.”

Squad Rotation Key

Having to navigate four games in 11 days, Frank Yallop and staff did a pretty good job of balancing out the squad minutes over the last week and a half.

Yallop utilized 19 players, starting 16 of them at least once over the four-game stretch with only rookie Harry Shipp and goalkeeper Sean Johnson playing the maximum 360 minutes in that time.

“It shows our depth as a team and this is probably the biggest week we’ve had all year especially in terms of results,” Amarikwa said post-game. “That’s three road games in a very short span of time and we came away with seven points so these are positives to build on and hopefully they carry out throughout the rest of the year.”

A look at the minutes distribution over the last four matches: