SPRINGFIELD - Frank Vatrano's six shots on Sunday against the Springfield Falcons were a game high - and that doesn't count the puck he rang off the post in the second period, a near miss after a slick drop pass from his Providence Bruins teammate Alexander Khokhlachev.

The one-assist performance in a 3-2 win over the Falcons was one of the East Longmeadow native's quieter games since his return to the AHL last month. That's a testament to how well he's played since his arrival in Providence.

"I felt a little bit slow out there. It wasn't one of my best games," Vatrano said. "But you have chances, which is always good, so if the chances are coming, you're doing something right. Other than that, it was a good win for us."

In 19 AHL games, Vatrano has put up 20 goals and 10 assists. Since his return to Providence on Jan. 21, he has 10 goals and eight assists in nine games. Despite having played only slightly more than a third of the P-Bruins' games, he's their leader in goals, and ranks fourth on the team in points.

When the Bruins sent him down last month, they noted that getting more playing time in Providence would be better for the 21-year-old's development. In his final four games with the Bruins, Vatrano never played more than 11:16 in a game, a dip in his ice time from where it had generally been in his first few weeks with the NHL club.

Since then, Vatrano said he's focused on finding his rhythm in Providence.

"Just keep playing hard and eventually you'll get the call," Vatrano said of the feedback he's gotten from the Bruins. "But I'm not too worried about it now. I'm just worried about the moment down here, and when it's my time and I go up, it's time to go up."

Vatrano's return to the AHL came when it did because David Krejci was ready to return from injured reserve.

After starting his NHL career with Krejci and Loui Eriksson, Vatrano saw the most time in Boston on Ryan Spooner's wing. The pair seemed to benefit from skating together: when they were on the ice together, the Bruins enjoyed a 52.8 Corsi For percentage, meaning that 52.8 percent of all shot attempts came from Boston and not their opponent. For both Vatrano and Spooner, that number dropped down to 47 percent or lower when they played apart.

With Patrice Bergeron considered day-to-day with an injury, Spooner is filling in as the Bruins' second-line center for now. Assuming Bergeron's undisclosed injury isn't serious, though, Spooner should slide back into the third-line center role when he returns. That would likely put him on a line with players like Jimmy Hayes, Brett Connolly or Matt Beleskey, none of whom have had the positive impact on his possession numbers that Vatrano did.

The sample isn't a huge one, of course - Vatrano and Spooner have only played a total of 116:36 together. The case can also be made that right now, the Bruins need a defensive boost more than an offensive one: in their last two losses, they've given up six and nine goals.

Still, when the Bruins decide Vatrano has shown them enough in Providence, they know he can play effectively with Spooner, bringing considerably more offensive upside in a bottom-six role than players like Tyler Randell and Zac Rinaldo. His barrage of shots on AHL goalies - 46 over the last nine games, or an average of 5.1 per game - has certainly been effective so far.

For now, Vatrano is skating mostly with Seth Griffith, Providence's leading scorer, and Providence College product Noel Acciari. On the first power-play unit, though, he's teamed up with Alexander Khokhlachev and Austin Czarnik, two diminutive but quick forwards who, like Vatrano, figure to be part of the Bruins' long-term plans.

"Those guys are obviously really dynamic, and all you've got to do is really get open, so that's the easy part - just get the puck on my stick and try to put it in the net," Vatrano said.

RELATED: Last time Frank Vatrano faced the Falcons in Springfield, he set up the late tying goal for Providence to force overtime. Watch below: