By Tim Campbell

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Manitoba Moose are coming apart at the seams.

They are bound this season with the thread of youth, and those young legs, young minds and immature hockey brains are fraying like a pair of cut-off blue jeans.

Sunday at AT&T Center, they blew a 2-0 third-period lead and bowed 4-3 to the San Antonio Rampage for their third straight outright loss, the first time that's happened all AHL season.

It's the second straight lost road trip for the Moose this season -- which are their only two -- and Tuesday's game here is a final opportunity to salvage something from the excursion.

"I keep saying we can use this youth excuse all we want but at the end of the day we have to do our job," said Moose goalie Drew MacIntyre, who stopped 35 shots through two periods to give his team the two-goal edge. "It's funny how you hear teams say all the time that they're young this year and it's such a positive. You can be young but you don't have to have all these mistakes and it's not just our young guys.

"Youth? This is everyone and I'm tired of hearing from people that we're learning. We are, but sooner or later you have to stop making the same mistakes."

It's not entirely fair to single him out, but Sunday's best illustration of what's happening with the Moose is Michael Grabner.

The rookie contributed his 14th goal of the season in the first period, but in a wild 3-3 contest in the third with his team on its 11th power play of the game and hunting for a possible winner, Grabner panicked on the right-wing boards in the offensive zone and gave the puck away without looking and without being forced.

San Antonio's Chris Durno gratefully took the unearned puck, skated forward with his opening and eventually snapped a hard, short-side shot past MacIntyre for the winner with 7:15 to go, lifting his team to 21-12-2-3.

Moose coach Scott Arniel was asked how much patience he's got for youthful mistakes as his team nears the halfway mark of the season.

"Not a whole lot," Arniel said. "All I asked today, the biggest thing in our meetings today was paying attention to detail for 60 minutes.

"I harped it after the first period, the second period, to stay with the program and to continue to do the little things but we totally drifted away from it in the third period."

It was an emotional sort of game, due largely to the two referees and an NHL standard applied to the play.

(It was also a game the Moose should have taken, based on the fact they'd played under this system on Saturday and the Rampage didn't seem to have a clue. Rather than learning from the tighter standard as the game went on, San Antonio whined all the more and kept taking penalties.)

Arniel, however, appeared more demonstrative than usual behind the Manitoba bench. He was seen venting more than once as his team fell to 21-15-2-1. "We spoiled a good goaltending effort, an effort where our penalty killing was pretty solid and our power play had stepped up but we broke down and made some stupid mistakes. We're really seeing our youth right now -- making a lot of mistakes."

And the frustration -- thin lineup or not as nine regulars remain out, either called up, injured or suspended -- is boiling up at the moment.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

San Antonio 4 Moose 3

First Period

A much better start by the Moose than in either loss in Houston. Drew MacIntyre is sharp in goal and rookie Michael Grabner bangs in a rebound for a 1-0 lead.

Moose 1 / San Antonio 0

Second Period

Eight penalties in the period after there were seven in the first, and the Moose click on the power play thanks to rookie Luc Bourdon with 52.8 seconds left in the period.

Moose 2 / San Antonio 0

Third Period

The floodgates open at 3:38. Enver Lisin scores on San Antonio's 41st shot and after markers from Bill Thomas and Nate DiCasmirro, the Rampage have the lead with three in 1:37. Brad Moran ties it for the Moose on the power play and while the Moose are looking for a game-winner on the power play, Chris Durno whips in a short-handed goal to spoil a 47-save night by MacIntyre.

San Antonio 4 / Moose 3

ICE CHIPS

Game Breaker

While undisciplined Jon DiSalvatore is serving his fourth minor of the game (hooking, cross-checking and twice for high-sticking), the Moose press for a late go-ahead goal but it only leads to Durno's shorty while killing the penalty.

Shorthanded Part II

The Moose dress only five defencemen. Call-up Daniel Rahimi arrives in time from Victoria (ECHL), which was in Las Vegas, but with Danny Groulx hurt and Zack FitzGerald suspended at least for Sunday's game, it's thin and young back on the Moose blue-line at the moment.

Point Taken

Victoria call-up Dylan Yeo, who joined the team late last week, recorded his first AHL point Sunday with an assist on Grabner's goal.

Four More Eyes

For a second straight game and courtesy of the NHL, there were two referees assigned to Sunday's contest, Frederick L'Ecuyer and Dean Morton. It should have been a big advantage for the Moose, who played under that format and an NHL standard on Saturday in Houston. The Rampage, meanwhile, played like a bunch of loose cannons and were shorthanded 11 times, never really figuring out what kind of things are penalties in an NHL, and, on this particular day, an AHL game.

Next

Moose at San Antonio, Tuesday at AT&T Center, 7:30 p.m. CT (CJOB).