LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Football Club has ground to make up over the second half of the Major League Soccer season if it wants to win the Western Conference for the third time in four years under coach Steve Cherundolo.

LAFC didn’t let a good chance go to waste Wednesday at BMO Stadium, dominating the Colorado Rapids, who were forced to play with 10 men for the majority of the match, 3-0 in front of an announced crowd of 22,230.

Denis Bouanga, Nathan Ordaz and Javairô Dilrosun powered the Black & Gold to its first win since June 8.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris returned to the starting lineup after missing one league contest following the conclusion of the FIFA Club World Cup, making a pair of saves to preserve his sixth shutout of the season.

When LAFC (8-5-5, 29 points) last crossed paths with Colorado for the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League series at the end of February, the Rapids accused defender Sergi Palencia of using discriminatory language during an exchange with center back Chidozie Awaziem.

Within a week the confederation cleared Palencia of wrongdoing and the two teams went about their business. But months after the fact, the Spanish defender and the Rapids quickly mixed it up again.

Six minutes after kickoff, Palenica jumped for a header in front of the Colorado bench. When 20-year-old Rapids defender Jackson Travis barreled into Palencia with his left arm extended, the Mississippi native, received a straight red card for contact to the LAFC player’s face from referee Jair Marrufo.

Down a man, Rapids coach Chris Armas removed forward Darren Yapi for fullback Keegan Rosenberry and the visitors sank into a low block to limit LAFC’s chances, ceding possession or any semblance of an offensive attack in the process.

Colorado (7-10-5, 26 points) didn’t take a shot on goal until the 68th minute and by then LAFC was comfortably ahead, a welcome change from recent results when they fell behind in seven of their last eight games.

Scoring once over its last 360 minutes of game action, including three group stage games at the Club World Cup and a 1-0 defeat in its previous appearance at home June 29 against Vancouver, LAFC found breaking down the Rapids wasn’t so simple.

Bouanga, the man most responsible for LAFC getting on the scoreboard the past three years, cracked open the game by doing what he does best in the 40th minute.

Shrugging off a defender at midfield, Bouanga sprinted toward the Rapids net, reached the box, split two more Colorado players, and went down after being fouled by Andreas Maxso.

Bouanga’s ninth goal of the season marked his 50th regular-season finish in 87 MLS appearances. He hammered his penalty kick into the upper portion of the net, making the Frenchman the 15th player to score that many goals in fewer than 90 league games, joining Carlos Vela (50 goals in 61 games) as LAFC players to accomplish the feat.

LAFC sealed the three-point night early in the second half when Nathan Ordaz tapped in his fourth goal of the year off a rebound of a Dilrosun shot.

Before the hour mark, Dilrosun, on loan from Club América until July 24, scored his first for LAFC on a left-footed finish to the far post when Timothy Tillman found the Dutch winger inside the box.