Photo: Bridget Samuels -- Krejci returns to Bruins' practice

Boston Bruins center David Krejci, who missed his third consecutive game last night with a mild concussion, cleared the first test to resume skating and practicing with his team this morning at Ristuccia Arena.

“It’s never fun [to watch], you want to be out there so bad you want to try and help the guys win the game or just help support them as much as you can. And it’s tough, you’re sitting all the way up there, far away from the game from the ice, it’s no fun.” said Krejci after practice. “But it’s part of the game,”

Although his timetable for return is still unclear, the Bruins’ No. 1 offensive center should be back relatively soon.

“We don’t really know. Concussions are concussions and it’s really hard to pinpoint,” said head coach Claude Julien.

“It’ another step in the right direction,” Julien added. “He wasn’t allowed any contact today, and hopefully that will be the next step where he gets cleared for a little bit of contact.

Out with a fractured forearm, defenseman Johnny Boychuk was back on the ice with his team after missing the previous eight consecutive contests.

Here’s the entire post practice audio of head coach Julien.

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“Same thing [as Krejci], he’s progressing everyday.” said Julien on Boychuk’s return. “He’s got that cast–I think they’re going to downsize that cast in the next day or so.

“As soon — in his case — as he feels good enough where it doesn’t hurt him anymore and he’s capable of using his stick and playing will be the day, I guess, that he’s cleared to go,” he said. “A lot of it is going to be up to him from here-on-in because he’s probably going to have to play a little bit with the cast for the first week or so.”