When New York Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips was held out of training Tuesday with "flu-like symptoms," fans worried that the offense might sputter against the Houston Dynamo in a mid-week match. Some flu, though: Wright-Phillips completed a hat trick in a dominant 4-0 win Wednesday night. Thierry Henry provided the other goal.

FULL HIGHLIGHTS

MATCH NOTES

The BWP show. Can he get the flu every week? Needless to say, the Wright-Phillips performance was all most anyone could talk about in the locker room after the match. The goals weren't spectacular—two tap-ins on crosses into the box and a late penalty kick—but no one would argue a hat trick. It was the first Red Bulls hat trick since Thierry Henry's against Montreal in March 2012. It was also the first in MLS for an English player. Take that, Beckham!

A first clean sheet of the season. Just as important was the first shutout of the season for Luis Robles, who had six saves on the night. So many matches for New York this season have seen goals slip on lax defending, but the defense held up well against Houston. (It's worth noting that Houston's finishing was remarkably terrible on the night as well.)

LOOKING AHEAD

A quick turnaround awaits with an away trip to Columbus on Saturday. The Crew have been one of the few teams in 2014 to consistently win, sitting tied atop of the Eastern Conference with a 3-1-2 record. If the Red Bulls can stick out a win in Columbus, it would appear to be the start of their annual spring hot streak. Tim Cahill remains questionable for the match, but if Wednesday's performance is any indication, the team may be able to perform just fine without him.

POST-MATCH REACTIONS

Coach Mike Petke on the performance: "It was obviously a great result. Some of the best soccer we’ve played, for sure, this year for large chunks of the time. But it’s like Jekyll and Hyde sometimes, you know. I mean we’re…How does this come out all of a sudden? But overall I’m very satisfied with the way the team played. There’s obviously always things to improve, like I say every game, but our ball movement was very good tonight, our positioning, our ability to create that space in the midfield. It was some good stuff."

Striker Bradley Wright-Phillips on his hat trick: "Yeah, you know, if you recall some of the other games, I’ve been getting in those areas. Some of them I should have been scoring, some of them I was a bit unlucky. Today it just went in, you know? Today they just went in."

Dax McCarty on whether it was a complete performance: "For the most part. I think, to be honest, for the first 10 minutes of the second half we tried to let them back in the game. I can pretty much guarantee you we’re not doing that kickoff play ever again. That was a little bit of a shambles, but other than the first 10 minutes of the second half, you know what can you say? I thought it was a very very dominant performance from us. You know, I thought we limited their chances to a couple of shots at Luis [Robles]. Defensively, I mean obviously the story will be Brad, and it should be, his finishing was fantastic tonight and he probably could have had four if it wasn’t for a great save by Tally Hall. Honestly, I think the story for us is keeping the first shutout. I mean that just gets you so far in this league and we’ve been a little unfortunate, you know had some PKs called on us that maybe we felt were a bit harsh, but I think when it’s all said and done keeping the zero at home, scoring four goals, having a pretty comprehensive performance, I think we can hold our heads high and say that this was the best performance of the season."

Thierry Henry on the nature of being a striker: "You go through patches sometimes as a striker when you don’t score. Like I said to you so many times, it’s not like he wasn’t having chances. You get worried when someone is not having chances. He was having chances, he did not put it in the back of the net and sometimes it does happen. You know, what do you do? Like I always say, do you give up or do you come back and try harder and play harder for your teammates and that’s what he did and he got his reward today."

Next Match: Saturday, April 26 7:30 PM, at Columbus (TV: MSG)