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Mueller lifts Coyotes past Flyers

Dec 19, 2007 - 4:21 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Peter Mueller continues to impress in his rookie campaign.

Mueller scored the eventual game-winning goal in the third period as the Phoenix Coyotes scored three unanswered goals to rally past the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, on Tuesday.

"No one quit in this locker room," Mueller said. "We got contributions from a lot of different players. We had a great game and I'm proud of the guys in the room."

A first-round selection - eighth overall - by Phoenix in the 2006 draft, Mueller used an outstanding individual effort to help the Coyotes win their third straight game.

Stationed in front of the net, Mueller corralled a rebound and fended off a Flyers defenseman before beating goaltender Martin Biron just 6:25 into the third period.

"'Z'(Zbynek Michalek) put the shot on the net and it just bounced on my stick," Mueller said. "My first shot hit (Biron) on the mask and it bounced right back to me. I just kind of spun around and I put it in."

It was the ninth goal of the season for Mueller, who trails only Chicago's Jonathan Toews (12 goals) for most among NHL rookies this season.

"For the younger guys, it's a dream," Mueller said. "It a great honor to play along the veterans. It's fun playing out there and we just want to do the best that we can."

"I play them in key situations," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "Our young guys play hard and it's nice to see because they bring a lot of enthusiasm to the arena."

Ilya Bryzgalov made the one-goal lead stand up, making 26 saves to preserve the victory.

"We said before this trip that it was a defining part of the season," Gretzky said. "Are we contenders or are we pretenders? It is nice that we are staying in the hunt and are playing (well) on the road. We have to figure out how to be better team at home."

The loss was the Flyers' fourth in a row, but captain Jason Smith feels the team can turn its fortunes around.

"As a group, we don't doubt that we can play and beat any team in this league," Smith said. "We're just not putting it on the ice right now. We're not executing as well as we need to, and working as well as we need to."

Scott Hartnell opened the scoring just over 12 minutes into the first period.

Mike Richards doubled the Flyers' advantage 7:21 into the second period.

Philadelphia's leading goal scorer poke-checked the puck away from defenseman Ed Jovanovski, skated in and beat Bryzgalov for his 16th goal of the season. Richards has now picked up points in five consecutive games.

Keith Yandle halved the deficit with his first career goal with just under three minutes to play in the second period.

Yandle was pleased to contribute in his just his second NHL game.

"It was fun," Yandle said. "It got the team on the board and the guys ran with it. We got a few goals and it was good to get the win. I'm going to help the team win any way I can. If it means doing more offensively, I'll do it."

Yandle cleaned up the rebound of Niko Kapanen's shot and beat Biron to cut the Flyers' lead to 2-1.

"It took a lucky bounce to me," Yandle said. "I (was) just fortunate enough to jump on the play and get a stick on the puck."

The Coyotes leveled the game while shorthanded with 22 seconds to play in the second period.

With Philadelphia on the power play, defenseman Randy Jones was unable to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Coyotes captain Shane Doan chased down the loose puck, skated into the right faceoff circle and fed Fredrik Sjostrom in the slot.

Sjostrom beat Biron to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games.

"It is unacceptable," said Biron, who finished with 39 saves. "We just can't give up goals in the first and last minute of the period. When you are up 2-0 in your building and it is late in the second period, it should be 2-0 in the start of the third."