Real Salt Lake will find out just how deep its roster is over the next two road games

Sandy • Real Salt Lake is riding high after beating defending MLS champion Atlanta United and securing its first three-game winning streak of the season. Salt Lake rose to sixth in the Western Conference standings with the win, which coach Mike Petke said gave the team a “huge” amount of confidence going forward.

The game against Atlanta did something else, too: It marked the first of a three-games-in-nine-days stretch that will have RSL looking to its bench more than normal by inserting fresh players into the lineup. Before facing Atlanta, Petke said his staff had a “blueprint” to how he would rotate his players.

“We’ve mapped it out to the best that we could with the understanding it’s not concrete,” Petke said of his rotation plans. “We have an idea with rotation of certain players. But at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to after each game seeing the health status, the workload, how we’re feeling, and take it from there.”

Real’s much-touted depth will face a test this week as the team embarks on its first extended East Coast trip and, embedded within that, its first midweek game of the season Wednesday against the Montreal Impact.

“This year, there was talk about [how] this is the best depth chart we’ve ever had,” forward Sebastian Saucedo said Sunday. “These are the types of games where we have to show it, and we have the players that are capable of doing that.”

Petke said the two road games won’t be an opportunity to flippantly give minutes to players who haven’t gotten many the season. He wants to continue this run of quality performances RSL is on, and that means inserting players who can help it do that.

“We have to win games,” Petke said. “So the player that … doesn’t get a lot of time, he has to be capable of stepping in and we have to feel comfortable with him getting us a result, being a part of it.”

Possible options for RSL who fit Petke’s descriptions are Sam Johnson, Brooks Lennon, Everton Luiz, Joao Plata and Kyle Beckerman. Luiz recently returned from injury and Beckerman is listed as probable against Montreal after missing four straight games with his own injury. Johnson, Lennon and Plata are attacking options that have not been starting lately. In the case of Plata, he hasn’t started a game all season.

Against Atlanta United, nine of RSL’s 11 starters played at least 89 minutes. The team flew to Montreal on Monday and had a layover in Minneapolis before arriving. Petke said he couldn’t remember the last time the team has had a layover on a road trip.

Defender Justen Glad said players are stiff and tired after so much travel. But for him, his road routine doesn’t dramatically change with two back-to-back road games compared to a typical week in which RSL has a few days in Salt Lake City before going on the road.

But Glad did acknowledge that extra stretching, treatment and hydration are needed in weeks like this one.

“Nothing dramatic, but just the little things that you have to keep an eye on,” Glad said.

The minutes and travel combined could be a recipe for potential danger to the health of Salt Lake’s regular starters. Petke said he’s trying to mitigate that as much as possible.

“We don’t want to run guys into the ground that they get injured and they’re not at their best because they’re tired,” Petke said.

Glad said it will be important that the players all have the same workload during the road trip, and the rotation will help ensure that happens. Glad echoed Saucedo’s sentiment that RSL has the appropriate depth on its roster to make it through the upcoming stretch and not experience a drop in quality.

“I think we can field any person in the locker room and have not a drop-off on quality,” Glad said. “I think the big thing is the mentality stays the same throughout every single player. Everyone knows what’s expected of them and that’s big time going into games, especially on the road.”