Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga's strike partnership entered record-breaking territory as Los Angeles FC beat St. Louis City 3-0 to keep their hopes of topping the Western Conference alive.

Former Tottenham captain Son struck twice after Bouanga scored LAFC's opener at Energizer Park on Saturday, meaning the duo have now netted each of the team's last 17 goals between them.

That run started in a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas in August and has continued through six games, with Son netting eight of LAFC's last 17 goals and Bouanga getting the other nine.

Son has one hat-trick in that spell – in a 4-1 win at Real Salt Lake last week – while Bouanga has two trebles, one in another rout of RSL and another versus the San Jose Earthquakes.

The previous record was set earlier this season, as Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge combined to score 15 goals in a row for Nashville SC.

LAFC's victory moved them up to 53 points with four games of their regular season still to play, keeping their hopes of earning the West's top seed very much alive.

They are four points behind the leaders, San Diego FC, with a game in hand, after the leaders in the West suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to the Earthquakes on Saturday.

Josef Martinez's 14th-minute strike was enough to decide that game, with the win moving San Jose into a play-in spot, above Dallas on goal difference.

The Vancouver Whitecaps are level on points with San Diego and trail on the total wins tiebreaker, though they still have a game in hand.

Vancouver recovered from 2-1 down to earn a 2-2 Cascadia derby draw with the Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field, with Mathias Laborda scoring their equaliser after Jackson Ragen and Albert Rusnak netted within 90 second-half seconds to put the hosts ahead.

Minnesota United are the other team contending for top spot, though they also dropped points in a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids, equalising in the second half through Sunderland loanee Nectarios Triantis.

Data Debrief: Son and Bounaga out in front 

Since Son and Bouanga's record-breaking run of goals began on August 23, they are the two highest-scoring players in MLS.

Inter Miami's Lionel Messi is the only other player to even score five goals in that timeframe, and Bouanga is now challenging the Argentine for the Golden Boot, only trailing him by one goal for the MLS season overall (23 to 24).