Adam McQuaid, Bruins player development coordinator, was on the Providence bench this weekend. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

Coming off a very abbreviated AHL all-star break, the Providence Bruins split their two weekend games.

They lost to the best-in-the-league Hershey Bears, 3-1, at home on Friday night. They rebounded 24 hours later and beat the Wolf Pack in Hartford, 4-1.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Providence is 29-14-3-2 for 59 points. They are second in the Atlantic Division, 13 points behind Hershey, which is running away from the rest of the league. The P-Bruins are eight points ahead of third-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They are 12-2-1 since Jan. 1.

— Mikey DiPietro was an afterthought in the trade that sent Jack Studnicka from Boston to Vancouver last season, but he’s putting himself back on the map with a terrific year. He stopped 34 of 35 shots in the win at Hartford.

He is 14-6 with a goal-against average of 2.28 (seventh in the league) and a save percentage of .924 (fourth in the league).

— Fabian Lysell blocked a slapshot by Dylan McIlrath with 15:45 left in the game against Hershey. Big deal, you might say, players block shots all the time. True, but McIlrath uncorked a 100.8 mph slapper at the AHL All-Star Skills Competition a week ago, so Lysell deserves a stick tap for standing in there when the big man wound up.  

Lysell has put together a good stretch of games over the last six weeks. It stands to reason Boston is going to give him a look at some point to see what they have (and perhaps to give potential trade partners a peek). This might be a good time to do that, after two stinkers in three games by the parent club. Changing things up a bit couldn’t hurt.

— Jayson Megna had a strong game on Saturday with a shorthanded goal and an assist. He was selected as the first star.

— Taking advantage of a Hartford turnover, Justin Brazeau put a backhand pass on the tape of Georgii Merkulov, who went bar down for Providence’s first goal on Saturday night. As of Sunday morning, Merkulov was fourth in the AHL in scoring with 18-25-43 in 43 games.

— Johnny Beecher’s speed backed off the Hartford defense and helped lead to Patrick Brown’s goal early in the second period on Saturday.

— Rookie Brett Harrison got a good bounce on Friday when his shot deflected off a Hershey defenseman and into the net for his fifth goal of the year. After a slow start, the 20-year-old winger’s play has picked up. He has 2-6-8 in the last eight games.

— Attendance on Friday night was 8,578. The last six home games have drawn crowds of over 8,000. Providence is sixth in the 32-team AHL in average attendance.

BAD

— I’ve watched a lot of Providence Bruins games over the years, but can’t recall ever seeing them put the puck in their own goal from 190 feet away. Until Friday night, that is. With Providence trailing by a goal in the final minute and Brandon Bussi pulled for an extra skater, Justin Brazeau flung the puck from near the Hershey goal line toward the blue line, figuring that a teammate would be there to grab it. Instead, the puck went all the way down the ice and into the Providence net.

— Providence wasn’t able to get much going at all on offense against Hershey, managing only 13 shots.

— The P-Bruins are winless against the Hershey juggernaut this season, with three losses in regulation time, one in overtime and one in a shootout.

UGLY

— Injured: Mason Lohrei, Jakub Zboril, Frederic Brunet