diff --git a/test/cpp/end2end/client_lb_end2end_test.cc b/test/cpp/end2end/client_lb_end2end_test.cc
index ea6156b545d..136087b8dd0 100644
--- a/test/cpp/end2end/client_lb_end2end_test.cc
+++ b/test/cpp/end2end/client_lb_end2end_test.cc
@@ -588,7 +588,7 @@ class ClientLbEnd2endTest : public ::testing::Test {
                         "(Failed to connect to remote host: )?"
                         "(Timeout occurred: )?"
                         // Syscall
-                        "((connect|recvmsg|getsockopt\\(SO\\_ERROR\\)): )?"
+                        "((connect|recvmsg|getsockopt\\(SO\\_ERROR\\)): ?)?"
                         // strerror() output or other message
                         "(Connection refused"
                         "|Connection reset by peer"
diff --git a/test/cpp/end2end/xds/xds_end2end_test_lib.cc b/test/cpp/end2end/xds/xds_end2end_test_lib.cc
index e46a16bdf19..2acf69ff1a0 100644
--- a/test/cpp/end2end/xds/xds_end2end_test_lib.cc
+++ b/test/cpp/end2end/xds/xds_end2end_test_lib.cc
@@ -844,7 +844,7 @@ std::string XdsEnd2endTest::MakeConnectionFailureRegex(
                       "(Failed to connect to remote host: )?"
                       "(Timeout occurred: )?"
                       // Syscall
-                      "((connect|recvmsg|getsockopt\\(SO\\_ERROR\\)): )?"
+                      "((connect|recvmsg|getsockopt\\(SO\\_ERROR\\)): ?)?"
                       // strerror() output or other message
                       "(Connection refused"
                       "|Connection reset by peer"