Recovering from a series of injuries and having only played 18 games this season for the Bruins, David Pastrnak was sent to Providence on Wednesday to get a little extra work in while the NHL is enjoying its All-Star break.

The way things went this past Friday night, does Pastrnak even want to go back up? Well obviously he does, but it’s safe to say Pastrnak had a great time down there over the weekend.

“It was a fun game,” he said after an 8-1 Providence thumping of the Springfield Falcons, “we played a great game and got off to a good start and it was a lot of fun to play with the good players [down here].”

Pastrnak earned the third star of the game as he registered a goal and two assists.

After a slow start to the game where he had no shots on net in the first period and had several turnovers, Pastrnak found his groove in the second. Assisting on Seth Griffith’s fourteenth goal of the season at 7:33, Pastrnak dug the puck out of the near-side corner and fed it over to Frank Vatrano, who then dished it off to Seth Griffin for the finish that put the Baby B’s up 3-0.

“We had chemistry going right off the bat,” Griffith said of Pastrnak, “when you play with two guys like Pasta [Pastrnak] and Frankie [Vatrano] and you see the play he makes on the goal and the pass he made to Frankie for his hat trick, you see he makes plays every shift.”

Those plays include his own goal at the end of the second period when Vatrano chipped an outlet pass to Griffith. Coming in 2-on-1, Griffith swept a pass over to Pastrnak. He then promptly buried a top-shelf shot over Falcons’ goalie Marek Langhammer’s glove hand for his first goal in his three games with Providence.

Midway through the final frame, Pastrnak would register his second assist on the night on Frank Vatrano’s hat trick goal.

“I’m just looking to get into the game and managing the puck,” Pastrnak said, “I’ve dealt with some injuries and now my finger is starting to get better, so it’s good and I can stick handle the puck and I can get back into shape.”

Despite only being expected to have another short stay in Providence, the team is happy to have him.

“When Pastrnak got sent down we were able to move him in there [with Vatrano and Griffith] and play with some skill and he’s just better when he does that,” said Providence coach Bruce Cassidy.

“I think for David, he needed a game where things happened for him offensively so we didn’t want to play him on a checking sort of line. I know he might do that a bit up in Boston but I think it was important for him to get a feel for the puck again and I think he did that [Friday].”

While trying to stay away from the injury bug, Pastrnak is starting to get a feel for the game once again. His play on Friday night was certainly a step in the right direction. If the Bruins are to make a run at and in the postseason, they will need a healthy Pastrnak to flash the offensive brilliance he is capable of showing.