The fact that Jake Allen has the St. Louis Blues' assistant general manager in his corner is not insignificant, because when you're struggling in net, it helps to know one of the game's greatest goalies believes in you.

Martin Brodeur has been keeping a close eye on Allen over the past few years, and was part of the braintrust that handed him the starting job and a four-year, $17.4-million contract extension last summer. Pulled from four of his past six starts, Allen's save percentage recently dipped to .897, raising questions about his ability to backstop the team moving forward.

Brodeur, who holds the NHL record with 691 career wins, has no doubt Allen - who was given the weekend off to clear his head - can rebound from a tough start to the season.

"He’s good enough, he’s talented enough, he’s got a great technique to fall back on, it’s just a matter of repetition and getting it done," Brodeur told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We’ve talked to him and we do have a lot of faith him, so I don’t think that should be a concern for him going forward. If that was a doubt that he had in his mind, well, that’s disappeared now because I think we were pretty clear about that."

Having said that, Brodeur isn't taking an active role in helping Allen figure things out.

"I just kind of told him to keep his head up, that’s it," Brodeur said. "I didn’t really sit down or have a conversation with him about what’s going on. The more people that talk to him, the tougher it gets, so I didn’t want to be too much involved. I’m in the back here watching everything going on, but you care because it’s what I used to do."

Allen is expected to practice with the Blues on Monday, and could be back in net Tuesday against Pittsburgh, the hottest team in the NHL at the moment.

Brodeur, for one, expects Allen to return refreshed and ready for the challenge.

"I believe he will be successful and this will just bring greater things in the future - I really believe that," he said. "Everybody goes through it, sometimes guys have to go through it harder than others. The move that we made with him, I think it’s really to help him get out of this. It’s difficult now, but looking back two or three months from now, this is just going to be a little blip on the radar."

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theScore's new series, "The Noise," is published every Monday. It kicks off each week with a quick look at three teams or players making headlines, good or bad.

Condon keeping Senators afloat

Where would the Ottawa Senators be without Mike Condon?

When general manager Pierre Dorion added the journeyman goaltender for the price of a fifth-round draft pick in October, the expectation was that he would give the club the occasional spot start while Craig Anderson was on personal leave and in relief of Andrew Hammond.

Three months later, we have tweets like this:

This came after a shootout win over rival Toronto, and a day before Condon allowed seven goals in an overtime loss to Columbus. The latter result aside, the fact Condon was pressed into back-to-back starts is evidence of how heavily the Senators have relied on him with Anderson away and Hammond sidelined by an ankle injury.

Ottawa sits second in the Atlantic Division, a place in the standings that would be far less secure without the 13 wins and three shutouts Condon's posted in 23 starts for the Senators this season.

When Anderson returns and Hammond gets healthy, Dorion will have a big decision on his hands.

The other Conor

In need of some inspiration on a Monday? Consider the following:

Over the past week, 24-year-old Conor Sheary led the NHL with six goals and three assists in four games, boosting his season totals to 17 goals and 34 points in 39 games played mostly on Sidney Crosby's left wing.

Sheary's production has surprised even Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan.

"I'm not going to sit here and suggest to you that I thought he'd have 17 goals halfway through the season, but I knew he could play in this league and I felt strongly that he could be a solid player at the NHL level," Sullivan said, according to Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I think his game is just growing by the day."

Sheary has now scored more goals than Connor McDavid, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Kane, and teammate Phil Kessel, and only four left wingers have recorded more than his 17 goals.

Anything is possible, indeed.

Bruins lack bite

Speaking of Sheary, his latest two goals came at the expense of the Boston Bruins, a team that has lost its past four games, leaving head coach Claude Julien to answer questions about his job security.

His response following Sunday's 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh spoke volumes about the state of the club.

Julien is not alone in pinning Boston's struggles more on roster composition than the system being employed by the coaching staff, but the reality is that the Bruins are facing a third straight season out of the playoffs, and that could lead to a change behind the bench, at the very least.

While the Bruins sit third in the Atlantic Division, they're the only team in the NHL to have played 50 games, and in terms of point percentage, they rank 11th out of the 16 Eastern Conference teams.

Boston hosts Detroit and Pittsburgh prior to the All-Star break - two games that could determine the Bruins' short- and long-term future.

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Filip Forsberg's recent clutch performance has bumped a familiar face out of the Nashville Predators record book.

More impressively, three of Forsberg's game-winning goals in January came in one-goal decisions, with the latest recorded as the third goal in a game where the fourth was scored into an empty net.

Forsberg was acquired by the Predators from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta prior to the 2013 NHL trade deadline.

Erat was at one time a consistent scorer for the Predators, but fizzled out soon after the trade.

Forsberg, meanwhile, is coming around after a slow start to the season. He's recorded five of his 14 goals over the past six games, including the record-breaking game-winner against Minnesota on Jan. 22.

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There must have been something in the water around the NHL last week.

In the period spanning Jan. 16 - 22, a total of 316 goals were scored in 52 games, an average 6.07 per game.

Pittsburgh finished the week with a perfect 4-0-0 record, scoring 24 goals over the past seven days, six more than second-place Washington. It should come as no surprise, then, that the top-five scorers over the past seven days were all Penguins.

(Courtesy: NHL.com)

Altogether, there were eight games in which 10 goals or more were scored (one every night except Friday, including three on Tuesday), and 13 games of eight or more goals.

Here's a look at those that reached double digits:

• Monday - Penguins 8, Capitals 7
• Tuesday - Stars 7 Rangers 6; Senators 6 Blues 4; Blackhawks 6 Avalanche 4
• Wednesday - Red Wings 6 Bruins 5 (SO)
• Thursday - Capitals 7 Blues 3
• Saturday - Oilers 7 Flames 3
• Sunday - Blue Jackets 7 Senators 6 (OT)

The Penguins did their part to make it a clean sweep on Friday, but the Hurricanes didn't hold up their end of the bargain in a 7-1 decision.

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Ryan Miller: Not happy.

After the Vancouver Canucks battled back from a 2-0 deficit six minutes into the third period, scoring twice in 46 seconds, they were burned late by Jonathan Toews, who pounced on a puck that came off the boards and beat Miller to give Chicago the lead, and, eventually, a 4-2 win.

After the game, Miller put the United Center on blast:

Miller played well, stopping 31-of-34 shots. He really wanted at least a point.

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Captain Serious delivered Sunday night.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews put his team on his back with the Vancouver Canucks in town, contributing one goal and three assists as the Blackhawks prevailed 4-2.

The outburst comes at a big time for the Blackhawks who - with the victory - match the Minnesota Wild for top spot in the Western Conference with 65 points.

For Toews, the four-point output was his largest offensive performance of the year and hopefully a glimpse of what's to come as Toews' offensive numbers have taken a dive this season.

The 28-year-old is on pace to post 47 points this campaign - even after his four-point game - which would set a career low. In fact Toews even hit 48 points during the lockout shortened 2012-13 campaign.

The season has been very uncharacteristic of Toews - who has posted 28 goals in each of his last three seasons, averaging 64 points. One glaring difference this year has been his puck luck.

It seems goaltenders have been getting the better of Toews.

After averaging a career shooting percent of 14.6%, Toews has only managed to connect on 6.9% of his shots this season, which once again is by and away his worst career mark.

Factor in the fatigue from playing significant minutes for Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey, for the Blackhawks' many deep playoff runs, and his nagging back injury - that caused him to miss nine games earlier in the year - and it's clear there could be many factors in Toews' drop in production.

All this considered, Toews still earned an All-Star nod for next weekend's festivities - whether his inclusion was warranted or not can be debated.

His four points on Sunday were certainly a welcome sight for the Blackhawks and for a club once again vying for a top playoff seed, a further increase in Toews' production would go a long way to ensuring Chicago makes another serious run at Lord Stanley.

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Not many teams go into Minnesota and beat the Wild. Add the Nashville Predators to the list.

The Preds erased a 2-0 deficit Sunday, eventually winning 4-2, as Filip Forsberg scored his fourth game-winning goal in six games.

The Swede is as hot as his team, which is playing the best hockey of its season, winners of six of seven. And Sunday's victory gave head coach Peter Laviolette the 500th victory of his career. He's the 25th head coach in history to reach the milestone.

It'll be a joyous return for the team to Nashville, on its way home after a stellar road trip through Denver, Western Canada, and Minnesota:

The Preds are now ahead of St. Louis by two points, and third in the Central Division. They've made up ground as goaltending has derailed the Blues' season.

It's the opposite in Nashville. The Predators have allowed only 12 goals in their past seven games, winning five tight one-goal decisions.

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NEW YORK - Claude Giroux scored at 3:20 of overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers rallied to beat the Islanders 3-2 Sunday night to end New York's three-game winning streak.

Giroux's 11th goal of the season came on pass from defenseman Shayne Gostibehere from behind the net, giving the Flyers a much-needed win after trailing 2-0. Philadelphia was 3-9-3 in its previous 15 since a 10-game winning streak.

Wayne Simmonds scored late in the second period to pull the Flyers within one and Ivan Provorov tied it early in the third. Steve Mason finished with 36 saves.

Nick Leddy and Alan Quine scored for New York, and Thomas Greiss stopped 44 shots.

Before Giroux's winner, Greiss denied Provorov on a point-blank attempt. Mason matched that save, denying John Tavares on a breakaway after Jason Chimera fed him the puck.

The Islanders had two power-play chances midway through the third period without converting. The Flyers had their chance with the man advantage when Cal Clutterbuck was called for tripping with 2:53 left but also failed to score.

The Flyers held a 42-34 shots advantage heading into overtime.

Leddy opened the scoring with 6:35 to go in the first period, snaring a loose puck that had squirted free after a scramble in front of the Flyers net and firing the puck over a fallen Mason.

Tavares rushed in on Mason but neither he nor linemates Josh Bailey or Anders Lee could beat Mason before the puck found its way out to Leddy, who scored his eighth.

The Flyers outshot the Islanders 15-8 in the first but Greiss continued his strong play, stopping all Flyers attempts. The Islanders' starting goalie since Jaroslav Halak was sent to AHL Bridgeport three weeks ago, Greiss continued his stellar play in the second with another 18 saves.

Quine made it 2-0 at 4:47 of the second, flipping the puck over Mason for his fourth goal of the season.

Simmonds finally broke through for the Flyers with 5:50 left in the second period to narrow the deficit to 2-1. The goal ended Greiss' shutout streak at 154:10 following shutout wins at Boston last Monday and at home against Dallas last Thursday night.

Simmonds' goal was his team-leading 19th this season.

Provorov tied it at 1:47 of the third on a dazzling solo effort around the Islanders' defense before beating Greiss for his fourth.

With both teams playing the second game of weekend back-to-backs, the Islanders had more jump early. But the Flyers seemed to find their legs once Simmonds scored late in the second and into the third period.

New York had won two straight games since Doug Weight replaced Jack Capuano as coach last Tuesday. They beat Dallas 3-0 on Thursday and stopped the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Saturday. They also won 3-0 at Boston last Monday in Capuano's last game.

Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck returned after three-game absence with an undisclosed injury while defenseman Johnny Boychuk also returned after missing two games. Forward Andrew Ladd missed his fourth straight game with an upper body injury.

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