The Crew entered last night's game with a 0-2-5 record despite playing well enough to win at least three of its previous games. It pined for three points, to keep its sanity and to keep pace in the early playoff race.

But true to form, the Crew relinquished a second-half lead. This time, though, it got it back and downed Kansas City 3-2 for its first victory since hoisting the MLS Cup in November. It raised its record to 1-0-4 when it scores the first goal.

In a flair-filled affair in front of 14,271 in Crew Stadium, Emmanuel Ekpo, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Eddie Gaven scored for the Crew in the 38th, 55th and 78th minutes and Claudio Lopez and Josh Wolff for the Wizards in the 51st and 79th.

Behind standout performances from its veteran captain, Frankie Hejduk, and its veteran MVP, Schelotto, the Crew wobbled -- it allowed Wolff to halve a late two-goal lead -- but did not fall, killing the final 10 minutes and stoppage time with purpose and precision.

"It was a grind," said Hejduk, who played for the first time since the opener after suffering a hamstring injury while with the U.S. national team on April 1.

"You're winning 3-1, then it's 3-2 and their momentum is growing and they're throwing everyone forward. To win like that showed some character, showed us the team we're supposed to be."

The Crew took its usual early lead, this one coming after a sequence of back-heel touches by Gino Padula, Alejandro Moreno and Schelotto that ended with a goal by Ekpo, who knifed through the defense to score his second goal in as many games.

Ekpo and the Crew kept Wizards keeper Kevin Hartman busy in the first half. Schelotto kept the Wizards defense on its toes, putting the ball wherever the wily Argentine willed on seemingly every touch.

After Lopez, a halftime sub, tied the score with a free kick that bounced in the box once and went in the Crew's net, Schelotto, so often the servant, was instead gifted by Hejduk in the 55th.

The Crew captain chipped a ball from just outside the penalty area to the back post, where Schelotto put a diving header on target for his fourth goal of the season.

"Schelotto has his hands in everything," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "He showed the class that he is tonight."

Gaven gave the Crew a two-goal lead with a clinical finish. Wolff scored one minute later, finishing off a cross by Jack Jewsbury with a header for his fourth goal in the past five games.

With Hejduk, 34, and Schelotto, 36, still on the field, the Crew parried the Wizards' final probes.

Crew keeper Andy Gruenebaum, playing in place of starter William Hesmer (left knee sprain) for the third consecutive game, denied Wolff with a save in the 76th.

The victory was a relief to Schelotto, who has won 18 professional championships in his career but did not sour during the Crew's seven-game winless streak

"We didn't win, but we could win," he said. "We played very good.

"Today, we start to get the same team as last year."

Padula returned from a red-card suspension, allowing the Crew to play with its top four defenders for the first time since the opener.

"These guys just needed a win to take off," Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. "From this moment it's going to be much easier to play."

smitchell@dispatch.com