Everything you need to know ahead of Vancouver Whitecaps' trip to Providence Park to take on Portland Timbers in the Western Conference Wild Card.

Ryan Gauld scored a hat trick for the first MLS Cup playoff goals of his career and the eighth-seeded Vancouver Whitecaps romped to a 5-0 victory over the ninth-seeded Portland Timbers on Wednesday night in the Western Conference wild-card game.

Vancouver Whitecaps have set up a meeting with Los Angeles FC in the First Round of the playoffs after a thumping 5-0 win.

BOTTOM LINE: The Portland Timbers visit the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Whitecaps are 12-11-5 in Western Conference games. The Whitecaps rank 10th in the Western Conference drawing 165 corner kicks, averaging 4.9 per game.

Big players show up for big games. That was the message from Vancouver Whitecaps minority owner Steve Nash to his team on Tuesday. Message received. Ryan Gauld had the first hat trick in the team’s Major League Soccer history.

The Vancouver Whitecaps are officially into the Major League Soccer playoffs after posting an emphatic 5-0 victory over the Portland Timbers in a wild-card matchup Wednesday.

The Vancouver Whitecaps will try to reverse their late-season slide in Wednesday's Western Conference wild-card match when they visit a Portland Timbers side coming off one of its most dramatic results of the season.