With David Krejci out of action for the Boston Bruins in their first three games, the offensive flow looked un-Bruin-like.

The first line looked completely out of whack and it wasn’t only due to the departure of Jarome Iginla, but it was too many unfamiliar faces playing with one another. Milan Lucic was out of sorts as well, but with Krejci inserted back into the lineup yesterday against the Avalanche, he brought that familiarity back to the Black and Gold whether it was on the first line, power-play or penalty kill.

Krejci was returning from an undisclosed injury and was just happy to be back out there with his teammates.

“I felt pretty good,” Krejci told reporters after the game. “Honestly, there were some shifts where I stayed on the ice a little too long and it was hard to catch a breath after that. Overall, I feel pretty good.”

The first line center created many scoring opportunities for his teammates Monday afternoon, something that had been lacking on that line with Krejci out of the lineup.

“I had one, Looch (Milan Lucic) had one and then at the end Zee (Zdeno Chara) had one when he was out there with our line,” Krejci said. “If only one goes in the net then it’s a different game, but it didn’t so we got to stick with it and try to create scoring chances next game. In this league, when you get a scoring chance you have to make sure you’re going to bury it and we didn’t do it today and it cost us the game.”

One could tell from the naked eye that Lucic had some pep in his step yesterday with Krejci back. He had a great scoring opportunity off a nice dish from Krejci, but it was denied by Reto Berra. Lucic also had three shots and three hits in the game in a little over 15 minutes of play so he is gradually improving. His production should take off with Krejci back in there full time again. That’s the effect Krejci has.

Head coach Claude Julien knows when his centerman is in the lineup his team has better balance and performance from all four lines.

“It was better,” Julien said. “David (Krejci) coming back in our lineup, you saw Looch (Milan Lucic) being a better player tonight as well and I thought Griffith (Seth) handled himself well. So, we had better balance. Even on our fourth line, even that goal against, it certainly wasn’t the forwards fault on that one, but they did a decent job. So, we had better balance.”

Krejci is coming off one of his best seasons as a Bruin where he notched 19 goals and 50 assists in 80 games. It may be hard to repeat those numbers without a “true” first line right winger, but with the Czech’s play-making ability, anything is possible.

The Black and Gold are happy to see Krejci back where he belongs-on the first line making his line mates better.