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Moose goalie Daren Machesney has been standing on his head. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

HOUSTON, Texas -- If they skip O Canada and serve up Three Dog Night's One Is The Loneliest Number tonight in Austin, the Manitoba Moose will still have heard their anthem.

The puck is certainly not their friend these days and a fourth straight one-goal performance led to a third straight defeat, 4-1 at the hands of the Houston Aeros before 3,163 at Toyota Center.

The Moose are mired in the worst scoring drought in franchise history. They have scored just nine goals in the last nine games, not counting two goals they are credited with scoring in shootout victories.

It all adds up to a near-impossible assignment for goalie Daren Machesney, who has taken on the workload with No. 1 man Cory Schneider with Vancouver.

"You try not to but I kind of know in the back of my head you have to be razor- razor-sharp," said Machesney, who faced 34 Houston shots and has now given up just 14 goals over six straight starts. "I really try to focus on what I can control, just doing my things, but if you try to do more and be all over the place and do everything, that's when you're in trouble.

"I play that way and try not to worry about the outcome."

Machesney could not have done more Thursday night, getting little help from his teammates and less from referee Mark Lemelin.

Not that the referee is supposed to stop pucks. But in a tough game in a hot Texas building, Machesney briefly blew a gasket at 8:43 of the third period when Houston's Peter Zingoni feel on his leg and wouldn't get up.

A couple of quick blocker reminders prompted Lemelin to assess the goalie a roughing penalty but the injustice was just salt in the wound of another loss.

"It was frustration," Machesney said. "When it's not going well, you get frustrated. It's so hot out there and I just felt like I was sweating so much, battling tooth and nail every minute. Then that.

"They came pretty hard tonight. I thought we were in our zone a lot tonight."

Moose coach Scott Arniel should hope to have this quality of goalkeeping for the balance of the season.

"He battles and I've seen it in this last stretch," Arniel said. "He may have given up four, but didn't have much opportunity there and was left hanging high and dry on a few of them. I'd hate to see what some of these scores would have been if he hadn't given us this kind of goaltending.

"I like his compete and that he wants to win all the time."

It may or may not be a reward but Machesney is likely to get a rest for one of the next two nights in Austin, as the unproductive Moose are in the middle of five games in six nights. Even five lineup changes Thursday didn't help.

Veteran winger Darryl Bootland joined the team Wednesday but seven ECHL games this season were clearly no preparation for the current Manitoba slump.

" I think he did alright," Arniel said. "He started with a lot of energy but it left his legs and his body pretty quick, I'm sure he'd agree. It's a tough building; it's hot and the ice is slow and he's a big guy and he got into a fight early."

Also in were newly signed Darryl Smith from CHL Laredo as well as Mario Bliznak, down from the Canucks. Arniel also sat out defencemen Brian Salcido and Evan Oberg in favour of Geoff Waugh and Neil Petruic.

In 17 games, Manitoba has just three goals from the blue-line.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 6, 2009 C4