After feeling like they let a win slip from their grasp in the series opener, the Anaheim Ducks will try to regroup for Game 2 of their Western Conference first-round matchup against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series on Monday when they scored twice in the final nine minutes to rally back for a 4-3 win in Edmonton.

Edmonton had blown a 2-0 lead when it surrendered three goals in the second period.

“It’s unfortunate the result of that game, and it’s going to be tough to swallow, but we’ve got to put it behind us,” Ducks forward Troy Terry said. “We kind of got our feet under us, and we’re into this thing now.”

Terry had two goals and an assist in his first playoff game in his ninth year in the NHL. Leo Carlsson contributed a goal and an assist.

Terry, Carlsson and rookie Beckett Sennecke combined to take 21 of Anaheim’s 28 shots on goal in Game 1.

The Ducks could use better performances from their most veteran players, however.

Chris Kreider had a turnover in the neutral zone that led to the second goal by Edmonton; Radko Gudas fell while skating backwards defending a rush, leading to the third goal; and Jacob Trouba lost track of Kasperi Kapanen on the go-ahead goal with 1:54 left.

Alex Killorn also committed the only two penalties by Anaheim.

“I thought, as a group, we proved to ourselves, we’re right there,” Terry said. “These little mental mistakes can sway a series one way or the other.”

The Oilers benefited from secondary scoring in the Game 1 win.

Kapanen, who scored twice, is a second-line wing, and Jason Dickinson, who scored the other two goals, centered the third line.

“Just very important for this team,” Kapanen said of the secondary scoring. “And other guys stepping up and making big defensive plays that you don’t really see on the highlight reel, but that are just as important.”

The Oilers welcomed back forward Leon Draisaitl for Game 1 after he missed the final 14 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury, and he contributed two assists in the win.

Draisaitl had 97 points in 65 games during the regular season.

“I felt OK,” Draisaitl said. “Certainly going to take a couple games to really be myself and really trust myself again, but for a start, I thought it was OK.”

Just as Draisaitl was returning, however, Edmonton forward Adam Henrique left in the first period with a lower-body injury after colliding shin-on-shin with a teammate.

“We will find out (Tuesday) how long he will be out,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We will miss him.”

The Oilers still have Connor McDavid, however, and he’ll be extra hungry after going without a point for just the 15th time in 83 games this season and the first time in a victory.

McDavid, who led the NHL with 138 points during the regular season, has only been held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games once this season.

“Connor is going to get his chances and get his looks, and we’re not worried about that,” Kapanen said.

–Field Level Media

After a week of highs and lows, Los Angeles FC are set for another midweek match when they play host to the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.

LAFC (5-2-1, 16 points) advanced to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals last Tuesday but will enter off a 4-1 home loss to the upstart San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday. LAFC were steamrolled by a barrage of second-half goals in the defeat.

“I have been here many times praising us but (Sunday) was not good,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said. “We have to take the game as a lesson and move forward. If I only talk about tiredness (from Champions Cup), that’s an excuse. It was not good. We have to see why and try to improve on Wednesday.”

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris not only gave up his first goals of the season to end a 593-minute scoreless streak, Heung-Min Son remains without a goal through his first seven league games. Son does have two goals in Champions Cup play.

Denis Bouanga leads the club with four goals and has four assists in MLS play, while Son has seven assists.

The Rapids (4-4-0, 12 points) had their inconsistencies on full display in a 3-2 home loss to Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami on Saturday. Colorado forced the action but Messi scored twice, including the game-winner in the 79th minute.

“I saw a team that performed like a big team with a proper mentality with a huge personality,” Rapids head coach Matt Wells said, while looking at the positives after his team had 15 shots to five for Miami. “… That gives me massive hope that if we keep building and stick on this path, it won’t be long before you’re asking me a question about us being the top team around Vancouver and LAFC.”

Dynamic on offense this season, Colorado’s 21 goals are second most in league play, one behind the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.

Rafael Navarro leads the Rapids with six goals and four assists, including a goal on Saturday.

Colorado’s loss to Inter Miami came in front of a crowd of 75,824 at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, the second-largest to watch a match in MLS history. It came one week after a resounding 6-2 home victory over the Houston Dynamo when Navarro scored twice.

But while the offense has been solid, the Rapids have allowed 15 goals, with only three Western Conference teams allowing more.

–Field Level Media

Nathan Church slugged a two-run homer and Alec Burleson also drove in a pair of runs as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday.

St. Louis, which has won six of its past seven games, also got 5 1/3 strong innings from Dustin May (3-2). He allowed one run on six hits and one walk while striking out five.

Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his seventh save.

However, Cardinals star Jordan Walker had his 15-game hitting streak broken. The stretch ended two games short of his career high, set as a rookie in 2023.

Miami was led by Jakob Marsee, who finished 3-for-4 and homered on his first swing with a new bat. On the previous pitch, the bat slipped out of Marsee’s hands and landed in the netting. That bat was given to a fan, and Marsee went deep for the first time this season the new lumber.

Marlins starter Chris Paddack (0-4) gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned seven. His ERA rose to 6.38 as Miami had its modest two-game win streak snapped.

Both teams scored in the first inning.

St. Louis got a run on rookie JJ Wetherholt’s leadoff double and Burleson’s RBI single.

Miami tied the score on Marsee’s 351-foot leadoff homer, pulled down the right field line. On the play, Marsee ran hard on his way to a potential triple before the umpires ruled that the ball had cleared the wall.

Wetherholt started another rally in the third when he drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on Ivan Herrera’s single and scored on Burleson’s grounder to first baseman Connor Norby, who threw wildly to the plate for an error.

The Cardinals made it 4-1 in the fourth. Masyn Winn singled, and Church swung at an inside cutter, pulling that pitch for a 370-foot homer to right.

St. Louis kept coming in the fifth, chasing Paddack with a Burleson double and Nolan Gorman’s two-out RBI single for a 5-1 score.

Miami cut its deficit to 5-3 in the eighth as reliever Ryne Stanek walked the bases loaded before allowing Heriberto Hernandez’s two-run single.

George Soriano replaced Stanek and struck out Norby looking on a pitch that caught the corner, low and inside, to end Miami’s best chance at a comeback.

–Field Level Media