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Krejci admits to playing hurt in Bruins’ win over the Oilers

Boston Bruins v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game Three

TAMPA, FL - MAY 19: David Krejci #46 of the Boston Bruins controls the puck in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at St Pete Times Forum on May 19, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)

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The Boston Bruins extended their win streak to four games with a 5-2 come from behind victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

However, the health of David Krejci appears to be front and center.

Krejci returned to the Bruins lineup after missing another two games with an undisclosed injury, which is believed to be lower body.

The 28-year-old picked up six minutes in penalties in the first period on Thursday and finished the night with an assist on Milan Lucic’s empty-netter.

“It’s a concern that it’s not the start to the season I would love to have, but it is what it is,” Krejci said post-game. “This is my first time that I’m actually battling with injuries in my career, so I got to get through it. It’s something new for me. But I’ve been working hard and felt pretty good today. I was good enough to play, so hopefully I’ll have the next few days be good days, and feel even better on Monday.”

Krejci, who finished with 16:16 in time on ice, finished the night winning 62 percent of his face-offs and two shots on goal in the win.

He left the game briefly in the third period when the injury began flaring up.

Krejci has missed five of the team’s first 15 games after initially suffering the injury during the preseason.

“At the end of the game it was getting a little sore, so I was just being smart,” he said. “The game was 4-2 so I know that we have a lot of guys that can do the job,” said Krejci, who is tied for second on the team with 10 points despite missing five games already this year. “So I was just playing smart and tried to keep the shifts short and I’m glad we got it done.”

Reilly Smith, Loui Eriksson, Carl Soderberg and Dougie Hamilton had the other Bruins’ goals while Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for his seventh win of the season.

Edmonton got out to an early 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Boyd Gordon and Mark Arcobello, but could not hang on.

“We had a critical mistake off the rush on the third one, and then they scored that third goal,” said Oilers coach Dallas Eakins. “It’s a bad decision, one that cost us, and then it actually led to the next one as well. That’s a hard one to frame.

“It goes to the mindset that every moment is critical. You’re in control of the game, everything is fine. Even when they scored the second one, I still felt we were in control. But our penalty kill there on the third one, with the big mistake, killed us.”

After winning four of five to close out October, the Oilers have now lost four straight.

Ben Scrivens made 18 saves in the loss.

Lucic was appearing his 500th career NHL game Thursday night. The Bruins 2006, second-round pick (50th overall) now has 124 goals and 307 points to go along with 722 penalty minutes all in Boston colors.

Follow @dcmahiban